Discrimination and mental health of highly educated immigrants in Hong Kong: The buffering role of group concentration

Abstract

Perceived discrimination is widely recognized as a strong predictor of poor psychological health. However, it remains unclear whether this detrimental effect persists when the discriminator shares the same ethnic background as the victim, and when the victim holds a higher socioeconomic status. Furthermore, previous studies have primarily focused on individual-level protection while neglecting the surrounding social and institutional environment in which discrimination occurs. In this study, we examine whether highly educated immigrants are also vulnerable to mental health costs when facing discrimination, and whether immigrant concentration in the specific context where discrimination occurs could serve as a protective buffer. We utilize data from a survey conducted in 2020 on highly educated mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong. Our statistical results suggest that perceiving discrimination from Hong Kong local Chinese has a negative association with the mental health of mainland Chinese immigrants, despite their shared ethnic identity and high educational status. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that the negative effect of discrimination only exists when local people dominate the population in the specific context where discrimination takes place. This buffering effect is consistent across workplace and residential community contexts as well as gender. This study contributes to our understanding of contextual factors that can mitigate the mental health costs of discrimination.