Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-20-2024
Abstract
Prior work has suggested that discrimination and immigration-related stress may impede mental health care seeking and utilization among Latinx populations. These effects may be more nuanced as both discrimination and immigration-related stress may increase symptomology, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Both symptoms may, in turn, prompt attempts to seek care. The current study examined the direct effects of discrimination and immigration-related stress on care access, as well as potentially indirect effects with PTSD and depression symptoms as mediators. Interviews and online surveys were completed with 234 Latinx residents of the Midwest, assessing everyday discrimination, discrimination in healthcare, PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, current mental health utilization, and previous unsuccessful attempts to seek care. Direct effects of discrimination and immigration-related stress were largely unrelated to care access variables. Discrimination in healthcare settings predicted both unsuccessful attempts to seek care and current use, but this effect was positive. The indirect effect was largely supported, but only for PTSD symptoms and not depression. Results indicate that further investigation is necessary to understand the direct effects of discrimination on care access. Further, discrimination and immigration-related stress may indirectly prompt attempts to seek mental health care.
Recommended Citation
Andrews, Arthur R., Kevin Escobar, Sandra Mariely Estrada Gonzalez, Sara Reyes, and Laura M. Acosta. 2024. "Investigating the Potential Double-Edged Score of Immigration-Related Stress, Discrimination, and Mental Health Access" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21, no. 3: 373. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21030373
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
DOI
10.3390/ijerph21030373
Comments
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).