The Impacts of COVID-19 Stressors on Immigrant Mental Health

Overview: This study examined the effects of COVID-19 induced stressors on the mental health of immigrants. Findings show that feeling blamed for spreading COVID-19 was the strongest predictor of emotional distress among immigrants followed by discrimination and limited social contact with family and friendsProposal text:

Background: Immigrants experience numerous challenges that come from adjusting to a new country, acculturation, economic hardship, and social isolation (Bluestein et al., 2021; Hurtado-de-Mendoza, et al., 2014; Mitschke et al., 2017). The stresses of unemployment, underemployment, resettlement, and the lack of a social support system have been found to contribute to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological stress (Ao, et al., 2016). Due to compounding factors facilitating cumulative disadvantage, immigrants in the U.S. have been at the forefront of dealing with the repercussions of the pandemic (Bluestein et al., 2021). Emerging studies indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on additional challenges to immigrant populations. These include increasingly being targeted with prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes due to stigmatization (Dhanani & Franz, 2020; Levin, 2021), and added strain brought on by working in high-risk environments, seeking care in hospital settings, and trauma triggered by fears of disease and war, (Mattar & Piewowarczyk, 2020). However, there is limited research on the effects that COVID-19 stressors have had on the mental health of immigrants. The present study examines the impact of social and economic stressors on the mental health of immigrants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Data were derived from across sectional survey collected from 2021 from first (60.7%) and second-generation (39.2%) immigrants across the United States (N = 419, 42% male, average age = 48.7, SD=20.3). Racial/ethnic composition of the sample consisted of 34% Asian descent, 31% European, 15% African, 14% Hispanic and 5% Other. The outcome variable, mental health symptoms, was assessed using the standardized Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) (Lowe eta l., 2010), that demonstrated excellent reliability in our sample, Cronbach's alpha=.91. Ordinary Least Squares Regression (OLS) was conducted to explore the impact of COVID-19 blame, employment change, limited social contact, worries about COVID-19 infection, and discrimination on immigrant mental health. We also controlled forage, gender, race/ethnicity, relationship status, education, employment, household income, and immigration generation.

Results: About 19% of participants reported mental health symptoms in the moderate to severe range. OLS regression results showed that limited social contact (β=.218, p < 0.01), COVID-19 blame (β=.565 p < 0.01) and discrimination (β=.271 p < 0.00) were significant determinants of mental health distress in our sample. Among control variables, we found that mental health symptoms increased as age decreased (β=-.033, p < 0.01). This model explained about 49% of variance in mental health symptoms in our sample.

Conclusion: Findings from this study contribute to the growing research on the negative impacts of COVID-19 stressors on mental health in the immigrant population in the United States. Being blamed for the spread of COVID-19 was the strongest predictor of mental health distress among our sample. Findings highlight the importance of assessing subjective appraisals of covid-19 blame, discrimination and social connectedness with family and friends in efforts to promote immigrant mental health during the pandemic. Future research can examine moderators and pathways through which COVID-induced stressors impact the mental health of immigrants.