TY - JOUR
T1 - Kicks Hurt Less
T2 - Discrimination predicts distress beyond trauma among undocumented Mexican immigrants
AU - Garcini, Luz M.
AU - Chen, Michelle A.
AU - Brown, Ryan L.
AU - Galvan, Thania
AU - Saucedo, Levi
AU - Cardoso, Jodi A.Berger
AU - Fagundes, Christopher P.
N1 - Funding Information:
Data collection and preparation of the manuscript were supported by the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program and a grant and diversity supplement from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (1R01HL127260-01).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Objective: This study aimed to assess for the prevalence of interpersonal discrimination among undocumented Mexican immigrants residing in high-risk neighborhoods near the California-Mexico border, identify relevant vulnerabilities, and determine its association with clinically significant psychological distress after controlling for sociodemographics, immigration characteristics, and history of trauma. Method: Respondent-driven sampling was used in this cross-sectional study to collect and analyze data from clinical interviews with 246 undocumented Mexican immigrants. The 53-item Brief Symptom Inventory was used as the primary outcome measure to assess for clinically significant psychological distress. For all analyses, inferential statistics accounted for design effects and sample weights to produce weighted estimates. Logistic regression was used in the multivariate analyses. Results: In all, 69% of the participants reported interpersonal discrimination due to being undocumented with significant differences observed across sex, educational attainment, and income. Among participants with a history of interpersonal discrimination due to their undocumented status, 52% met criteria for clinically significant psychological distress with significant differences observed across age groups, years living in the United States, and history of trauma. After controlling for relevant covariates, having experienced interpersonal discrimination due to being undocumented was the strongest significant predictor of clinically significant psychological distress, odds ratio = 5.47, 95% confidence interval [2.56, 11.7], p < .001, even beyond history of trauma. Conclusion: Overall, our findings emphasize the need for policies, advocacy, and the development and provision of contextually sensitive interventions to address the high prevalence of interpersonal discrimination and its negative health effects among undocumented Mexican immigrants.
AB - Objective: This study aimed to assess for the prevalence of interpersonal discrimination among undocumented Mexican immigrants residing in high-risk neighborhoods near the California-Mexico border, identify relevant vulnerabilities, and determine its association with clinically significant psychological distress after controlling for sociodemographics, immigration characteristics, and history of trauma. Method: Respondent-driven sampling was used in this cross-sectional study to collect and analyze data from clinical interviews with 246 undocumented Mexican immigrants. The 53-item Brief Symptom Inventory was used as the primary outcome measure to assess for clinically significant psychological distress. For all analyses, inferential statistics accounted for design effects and sample weights to produce weighted estimates. Logistic regression was used in the multivariate analyses. Results: In all, 69% of the participants reported interpersonal discrimination due to being undocumented with significant differences observed across sex, educational attainment, and income. Among participants with a history of interpersonal discrimination due to their undocumented status, 52% met criteria for clinically significant psychological distress with significant differences observed across age groups, years living in the United States, and history of trauma. After controlling for relevant covariates, having experienced interpersonal discrimination due to being undocumented was the strongest significant predictor of clinically significant psychological distress, odds ratio = 5.47, 95% confidence interval [2.56, 11.7], p < .001, even beyond history of trauma. Conclusion: Overall, our findings emphasize the need for policies, advocacy, and the development and provision of contextually sensitive interventions to address the high prevalence of interpersonal discrimination and its negative health effects among undocumented Mexican immigrants.
KW - Discrimination
KW - Distress
KW - Immigrant
KW - Mexican
KW - Undocumented
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U2 - 10.1037/vio0000205
DO - 10.1037/vio0000205
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85051181281
VL - 8
SP - 692
EP - 701
JO - Psychology of Violence
JF - Psychology of Violence
SN - 2152-0828
IS - 6
ER -