The dynamics of discrimination, resilience, and social support in the mental health of migrants with and without citizenship.

Perceived discrimination has a significant negative impact on indices of mental health. One potential buffering factor in this is psychological resilience, which encompasses the ability to recover from or adapt successfully to adversity and use coping strategies, such as positive reappraisal of adverse events. This study examines the role of resilience as well as social support in buffering these effects in groups of migrants both with and without local residence permits. We conducted a non-experimental observational study with a cross-sectional design, collecting a variety of health variables in migrant groups in a naturalistic setting, during the COVID-19 period. The total sample consisted of 201 subjects, 88 of whom had a German residence title and 113 did not. These two groups were compared on the following variables of interest: social support, resilience, discrimination, and general mental health. There was no evidence for a difference in mental health between migrants with and without citizenship. However, our results suggested that migrants without citizenship reported less social support, less resilience, and more discrimination, which continued to have a distinct effect on mental health beyond resilience and social support. Psychological resilience mediated the link between social support and mental health, as well as being related to the perception of discrimination in the migrant group without citizenship. In conclusion, our models of migrants with and without citizenship showed that resilience specifically directly affected perceived discrimination in those without citizenship. The high levels of discrimination and lack of social support, particularly in the migrant group without citizenship, are concerning and suggest a focus for future interventions.

The Differential Impact of Lockdown Measures Upon Migrant and Female Psychiatric Patients - A Cross-Sectional Survey in a Psychiatric Hospital in Berlin, Germany.

The COVID-19 pandemic could have major effects on already vulnerable individuals with psychiatric disorders. It is important to assess how different patient groups respond to stress related to the pandemic, and what additional factors influence it, including family-related stress, migration background, and sex. We conducted a survey in a sample of 294 psychiatric patients in a large outpatient clinic in Berlin, measuring level of distress in relation to COVID-19 lockdown as well as family-related distress. We also measured potential influencing factors such as media consumption and medical support. In the migration background group, we found that women had more lockdown related psychological distress than men. This was not apparent in those patients with a German background. We found that females were more strongly affected by family-related distress, particularly those with a migration background. People with PTSD were most strongly affected by family-related distress, whereas people with psychotic disorders and addiction reported the least distress. There were no effects of media consumption. There were no differences in ability to abide by the lockdown related restrictions across diagnoses. Our results support earlier findings on differential vulnerability of diagnostic groups to these stressors. Thus, clinicians can optimize treatment by taking family-related stressors into account particularly for females and people with a migrant background.