Discrimination and Health: The Mediating Effect of Acculturative Stress.

Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar,Alfonso Urzúa,Diego Henríquez,David R Williams

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105312

Abstract

There is not much evidence on the effects of south–south migration and its consequences on physical and mental health. Our objective was to examine the mediating role of Acculturative Stress in the association between ethnic discrimination and racial discrimination with physical and mental health. This research is a non-experimental, analytical, cross-sectional study. A total of 976 adult Colombian migrants living in Chile were interviewed. We used the Everyday Discrimination Scale, the acculturative stress scale, and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-12) for health status; we found that racial and ethnic discrimination had a negative effect on physical and mental health. In the simultaneous presence of both types of discrimination, racial discrimination was completely absorbed by ethnic discrimination, the latter becoming a total mediator of the effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health. Our findings are consistent with the literature, which suggests that there are various types of discrimination which, individually or in their intersectionality, can have negative effects on health.

Highlights

In 2019, 3.5 percent of the world’s population, about 272 million people, were international migrants [1]
In the simultaneous presence of both types of discrimination, racial discrimination was completely absorbed by ethnic discrimination, the latter becoming a total mediator of the effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health
Our analyses contribute to the idea that, in the face of the simultaneous presence of both types of discrimination, racial discrimination was completely absorbed by ethnic discrimination, the latter becoming a total mediator of the effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health

Summary

Introduction

In 2019, 3.5 percent of the world’s population, about 272 million people, were international migrants [1] Migrating produces effects both on the person who migrates and on the society that receives them, derived mainly from factors linked to the interaction between the two. Two of these factors are perceived as discrimination and acculturative stress, variables that can directly or indirectly affect the physical and mental health of the migrant [2]. When these demands of adaptation to a new culture exceed people’s capacities to face them, acculturative stress can arise [38,39,40]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion