MIGPACT

Summary: The successful integration of the high numbers of refugees is one of the most critical issues facing the EU today. We propose to identify factors at the neighbourhood-, family-, peer-, and individual- levels that may protect immigrant children, adolescents and adults from psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and crime.

We have access to highly accurate and almost complete nationwide sociodemographic data from 1960-2018 including, but not limited to, country of birth, education, income, employment, and social welfare, school grades, and reason for immigration linked to nationwide inpatient- and outpatient health care data, family relations, neighbourhood socioeconomic factors and indices of 250,000 neighbourhood goods and services.

These timely data are available for more than 3 million 1st and 2nd generation immigrants, including over half a million more recent immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. We will apply different causal models and our novel designs (e.g., identification of deprived immigrant enclaves, deviant peer contexts, and natural experiments) to examine our aims.

We are in a unique position to carry out the entire sequence of the proposed research from direct clinical observations, formulation of novel hypotheses and use of innovative analytic methods to interpretation of findings tailored to subgroups of immigrant populations. Findings from Sweden are highly relevant to the EU as around 25% of the entire population are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Our findings will delineate meaningful subgroups of immigrants, including refugees, similar to those in other EU countries.

Based on our results, we will develop recommendations at the neighbourhood-, family-, peer-, and individual-levels that, when tailored appropriately, will help guide EU policies and strategies, thus leading to decreased strain on health and social services, improved psychiatric health and successful integration of immigrant populations.

Participants: Professor Jan Sundquist (PI); Professor Kristina Sundquist; 
Senior University Lecturer Xinjun Li; Associate Professor Ashfaque Memon. 

Postdocs: Ardavan Khoshnood, MD, PhD; Mehdi Osooli, MSc, PhD

Doctoral students: Sanjay Thompson, Wazah Pello Esso, Kenta Okuyama

Administrative support: Susanne Andrén & Daniela Bengtsson 

                                              Publications

1
Mezuk B, Ohlsson H, Cederin K, Sundquist J, Kendler KS, Sundquist K. Immigrant enclaves and risk of drug involvement among asylum-seeking immigrants in Sweden: A quasi-experimental study. (sciencedirect.com) 
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2019 Dec 1;205:107666. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107666. Epub 2019 Oct 25. PMID: 31710993; PMCID: PMC7470170.

2
Raphael, Eva; White, Justin S.; Li, Xinjun; Cederin, Klas; Glymour, M. Maria; Sundquist, Kristina; Sundquist, Jan; Hamad, Rita. Neighborhood Deprivation and Mental Health Among Immigrants to Sweden (lww.com)
Epidemiology 31(3):p e25-e27, May 2020. | DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001160

3
Osooli M, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in first- and second-generation immigrant children and adolescents: A nationwide cohort study in Sweden. (sciencedirect.com)
J Psychosom Res. 2021 Feb;141:110330. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110330. Epub 2020 Dec 9. PMID: 33326861.

4
Khoshnood A, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. A Comparison between Indoor and Outdoor Rape Suspects in Sweden. (nih.gov)
Deviant Behav. 2021 Mar 9;43(5):593-606. doi: 10.1080/01639625.2021.1891844. PMID: 35607492; PMCID: PMC9122615.

5
Khoshnood A, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Swedish rape offenders - a latent class analysis. (oup.com)
Forensic Sci Res. 2021 Feb 22;6(2):124-132. doi: 10.1080/20961790.2020.1868681. PMID: 34377569; PMCID: PMC8330751.

6
Ardavan Khoshnood, Henrik Ohlsson, Jan Sundquist, Kristina Sundquist (sciencedirect.com)
Deadly violence in Sweden: Profiling offenders through a latent class analysis (sciencedirect.com)
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2020 Jul-Aug;71:101603. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2020.101603. Epub 2020 Jun 30. PMID: 32768102.

7
Assari S, Osooli M, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Immigrants' diminished protective effects of parental education and employment on youth mood disorders in Sweden. (springer.com)
BMC Psychiatry. 2025 Aug 20;25(1):800. doi: 10.1186/s12888-025-07264-7. PMID: 40836277; PMCID: PMC12366212.

8
Khoshnood AM, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Immigrant Background and Rape Conviction: A 21-Year Follow-Up Study in Sweden. (nih.gov)
J Interpers Violence. 2026 Jan;41(1-2):372-390. doi: 10.1177/08862605241311611. Epub 2025 Jan 6. PMID: 39760377; PMCID: PMC12662818.

9
Okuyama K, Larsson Lönn S, Khoshnood AM, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. School performance and substance use disorders in early adulthood among non-immigrant and immigrant populations in Sweden. (oup.com)
Eur J Public Health. 2026 Feb 1;36(1):142-148. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaf164. PMID: 40986318.

10
Okuyama K, Lönn SL, Khoshnood AM, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Parental mental disorders and school performance among non-immigrant and second-generation immigrant children in Sweden. (sciencedirect.com)
J Migr Health. 2025 Mar 27;11:100329. doi: 10.1016/j.jmh.2025.100329. PMID: 40625593; PMCID: PMC12230213.

11
Cook WK, Li X, Sundquist K, Kendler KS, Sundquist J, Karriker-Jaffe KJ. Drinking cultures and socioeconomic risk factors for alcohol and drug use disorders among first- and second-generation immigrants: A longitudinal analysis of Swedish population data. (sciencedirect.com)
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021 Sep 1;226:108804. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108804. Epub 2021 Jun 18. PMID: 34216865; PMCID: PMC8355220. 

12
Chartier KG, Kendler KS, Ohlsson H, Sundquist K, Sundquist J. Triangulation of evidence on immigration and rates of alcohol use disorder in Sweden: Evidence of acculturation effects. (wiley.com)
Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2023 Jan;47(1):104-115. doi: 10.1111/acer.14969. Epub 2022 Nov 22. PMID: 36336820; PMCID: PMC10016429.

13
Ardavan Khoshnood, Henrik Ohlsson, Jan Sundquist, Kristina Sundquist (sciencedirect.com)
Firearm-Related Homicide in Sweden: A Latent Class Analysis of Suspected Offenders (sciencedirect.com)
Crime & Delinquency Volume 69, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211046519 

14
Okuyama K, Lönn SL, Khoshnood AM, Assari S, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. School performance gap between non-immigrant and second-generation immigrant children in Sweden-time trends and contributing factors. (frontiersin.org)
Front Public Health. 2025 Jan 24;13:1521387. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1521387. PMID: 39925753; PMCID: PMC11802443.

15
Osooli M, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Major depressive disorders in young immigrants: A cohort study from primary healthcare settings in Sweden. (sagepub.com)
Scand J Public Health. 2023 May;51(3):315-322. doi: 10.1177/14034948211019796. Epub 2021 Jun 14. PMID: 34120516; PMCID: PMC10251462.        

16
Osooli M, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Conduct Disorder in Immigrant Children and Adolescents: A Nationwide Cohort Study in Sweden. (mdpi.com)
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 11;18(20):10643. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182010643. PMID: 34682389; PMCID: PMC8535976. 

17
Kiadaliri A, Osooli M, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. Temporal trends of psychiatric disorders incidence by sex, education and immigration status among young and middle-aged adults in Sweden, 2004-2019. (springer.com)
BMC Psychiatry. 2025 Feb 25;25(1):166. doi: 10.1186/s12888-025-06596-8. PMID: 40001096; PMCID: PMC11863446.

ERC-2017-ADG

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 787592).

HORIZON 2020 “The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

MIGPACT
PI Jan Sundquist
Lund University/Department of clinical sciences