Discrimination at Work and Mental Health : Understanding Depression Disparities through the Lens of Race, Migration and Gender

Anna Nguyen Thanh Son , INED

Research on the health of immigrants and their children has highlighted the detrimental effects of low occupational status and work-related discrimination on mental health. However, these interconnected factors are often studied separately in analyses of racial disparities in mental health, despite being both reinforced by the racialization of the organization of work. In France, prior to the Trajectoires et Origines 2 survey (TeO2), statistical surveys collecting information on discrimination and mental health were limited. In this article based on a representative survey of the French mainland population (TeO2), I investigate - through an intersectional approach (race, migration generation, gender) - disparities in depression between people of African origin and the majority population, by using mediation analyses. I test the mediating associations of occupational status and discrimination at work and found three key findings: unskilled employment increases the risk of depression only among immigrant women from Africa; the overexposure to discrimination at work among first- and second- generation of immigrants contributes to depression disparities; among the various contexts of discrimination, those related to work are only associated with depression risk, highlighting the centrality of the occupational sphere in the production of mental health inequalities.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 88. Migrant Populations and Ethnoracial Discrimination