Mental health impacts of racial discrimination in Australian culturally and linguistically diverse communities: a cross-sectional survey.
BACKGROUND
Racial discrimination denies those from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds access to rights such as the ability to participate equally and freely in community and public life, equitable service provision and freedom from violence. Our study was designed to examine how people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds in four Australian localities experience and respond to racial discrimination, as well as associated health impacts.


METHODS
Data were collected from 1,139 Australians regarding types of racial discrimination experienced, settings for these incidents, response mechanisms and psychological distress as measured by the Kessler 6 (K6) Psychological Distress Scale.


RESULTS
Age, education, religion, gender, visibility and rurality were all significantly associated with differences in the frequency of experiencing racial discrimination. Experiencing racial discrimination was associated with worse mental health. Mental health impacts were not associated with the type of discriminatory experience, but experiencing racial discrimination in shops and in employment and government settings was associated with being above the threshold for high or very high psychological distress. One out of twelve response mechanisms was found to be associated with lower stress following a discriminatory incident.


CONCLUSIONS
Study results indicate that poorer mental health was associated with the volume of discrimination experienced, rather than the type of experience. However, the impact of experiencing discrimination in some settings was shown to be particularly associated with high or very high psychological distress. Our findings suggest that interventions designed to prevent the occurrence of racism have more potential to increase mental health in racial and ethnic minority communities than interventions that work with individuals in response to experiencing racism.
Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. a.ferdinand@unimelb.edu.au.
Angeline S
AS
Ferdinand
Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia. yin.paradies@deakin.edu.au.
Yin
Y
Paradies
Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. mkelaher@unimelb.edu.au.
Margaret
M
Kelaher
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D062489:Health Impact Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D063505:Racism / Q000523:psychology*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult