Abstract
To Japanese overseas workers and their families, mental health care is a very important concern. However, as there are so many psychosocial factors involved when living abroad, it is very diffcult to determine what factor is important for mental health maintenance. So, in this study, we tried to assess the relationship between the psychosocial background and the mental health state of the Japanese living overseas. Three hundred and one people who consulted JOHAC (Japan Overseas Health Administration Center) , were examined. The author had an individual interview with each person and investigated their psychosocial background and demographic data. Results of this data was compared to the score of the GHQ (General Health Questionnaire), which we used as the index of mental health state of the subjects. In this process, we adopted multivariate statistical analysis ; the Quantification Type I method. This analysis revealed that the combination of four of the items ((1) Stress coping pattern, (2) Optimism/ Pessimism, (3) The motive for going abroad, (4) Alcohol), could most accurately estimate GHQ score (Rsquared = O.308,p < O.001) . In particular, the stress coping pattern seemed to be the most useful measurement. The author concluded that the above four psychosocial factors were very important for anticipating one's adaptability to living abroad.
