Mental well-being in residents of monolingual and multilingual regions of Russia

Abstract

Introduction Despite numerous studies of the mental health and well-being of the population depending on various factors, insufficient attention is paid to the research of the relationship between well-being and mono- and multilingual regional specifics in multilingual and multicultural Russia. Objectives This study aims to identify a possible relationship between mental well-being in some regions of the Russian Federation and monolingualism and multilingualism inherent in these regions. Methods The study involved 966 participants (29.5% men and 70.5% women) aged 11 to 80 years (M=24.8; SD=12.19) from six regions of the Russian Federation: Crimea, Adygea, Bashkortostan, Sakha, Tatarstan and Kabardino-Balkarian region. The mental well-being of participants was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (Tennant et al., 2006; Tennant et al., 2007). Results The measures of mental well-being were compared among residents from the regions as following categories: native Russian language speakers in monolingual regions (144 participants); native Russian language speakers in multilingual regions (193 participants); native national language speakers in multilingual regions (325 participants); native Russian and national languages speakers in multilingual regions (304 participants). Using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was found that there were no significant differences in the assessments of mental well-being (F = 0.852; p = 0.521) among residents from the above categories. Conclusions Residents who are native speakers in Russian and national languages and are living in Russia’s regions with monolinguism and multilinguism demonstrate no difference in mental well-being measures. The reported study was funded by the RFBR, project number 17-29-09167. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• monolingual and multilingual regions
• Russia
• mental well-being
• mental health