Somatic perception, cultural differences and immigration: results from administration of the Modified Somatic Perception Questionnaire (MSPQ) to a sample of immigrants

Figures & data

Table 1 Group differences between Italian and immigrant patients (n=326) and immigrants from Africa and South America (n=143)

	Italians n=186	Immigrants n=143	Test	Sig
Sex (n; %)			Chi square	0.11
M	71 (38.2%)	67 (46.9%)
F	115 (61.8%)	76 (53.1%)
Age (mean; SD)	35.0 (±14.1)	38.3 (±10.7)	Mann–Whitney	<0.01
Years spent in Italy (mean; SD)		10.3 (±5.0)
MSPQ (mean; SD)	6.0 (±4.4)	8.3 (±5.3)	Mann–Whitney	<0.01
	Africa n=46	South America n=97	Test	Sig
Sex (n; %)			Chi square	<0.01
M	40 (87.0%)	27 (27.8%)
F	6 (13.0%)	70 (72.2%)
Age (mean; SD)	41.5 (±9.9)	36.8 (±10.8)	Mann–Whitney	<0.05
Years spent in Italy (mean; SD)	10.8 (±5.8)	10.1 (±4.6)	Mann–Whitney	0.09
MSPQ (mean; SD)	7.1 (±3.7)	8.8 (±5.8)	Mann–Whitney	0.18

Abbreviations: F, female; M, male; MSPQ, Modified Somatic Perception Questionnaire; SD, standard deviation; sig, significance.

Table 2 Linear regression with Modified Somatic Perception Questionnaire as the independent variable and age, sex, and immigrant condition as dependent variables

	Unstandardized coefficients		Standardized coefficients	t	Sig
	B	Std error	Beta
Constant	8.48	1.46		5.81	<0.01
Group (1= Italian; 2= Immigrant)	2.62	0.52	0.26	5.04	<0.01
Age	−0.04	0.02	−0.1	−1.90	0.06
Sex (1= M; 2= F)	2.53	0.52	0.25	4.85	<0.01

Abbreviations: F, female; M, male; Sig, significance; Std, standard.