Association between poor sleep and mental health issues in Indigenous communities across the globe: a systematic review.

Study Objectives: Evidence from studies among non-Indigenous populations has established the association of poor sleep to mental health issues and supported how improving sleep could reduce the risk of mental ill health. In contrast, for Indigenous people, who experience disproportionate rates of mental ill health, the association between sleep and mental health and the potential of sleep health in reducing the risk and severity of mental health issues have never been fully reviewed. Considering the literature gap, this review assesses the association between sleep and mental health in Indigenous people. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a study was submitted to the PROSPERO database for registration (293798) prior to commencing the review. Then academic databases were searched for relevant studies published up till 19 February 2023. Studies with quantitative data on sleep and mental health association in Indigenous people were included and a narrative review/synthesis was conducted. Results: Seven studies, using carer/self-reports (six cross-sectional, one longitudinal) among three Indigenous groups (N = 3066) met the inclusion criteria. In Indigenous Australian children, arousal problems were associated with aggression, and withdrawn behavior, while early bedtime was associated with a lower risk of behavioral problems. In Native American young people, insomnia symptoms were associated with depressive symptoms in adults, short sleep was associated with affective disorders. Clinical sleep issues, i.e. restless leg and apnea, were associated with depression. In Amerindian/Mestizo adults, restless leg syndrome was associated with depression and anxiety. Overall, findings report the prevalence of poor sleep and mental health issues among Indigenous communities across the globe. Six studies scored "moderate quality" and one study scored "high quality" in quality assessment. Conclusions: While there is limited research available, our finding suggests an association between poor sleep and mental health issues in Indigenous people. Further investigation of the potential role of, and investing in, sleep health could help support mental health.

Coethnic Concentration and Asians' Perceived Discrimination across U.S. Counties during COVID-19.

Aggregate figures unequivocally depict an increase in anti-Asian sentiment in the United States and other Western countries since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is limited understanding of the contexts under which Asians encounter discrimination. The authors examine how coethnic concentration shapes Asians' experiences of discrimination across U.S. counties during COVID-19 and also assess whether county-level context (e.g., COVID-19 infection rates, unemployment rates) could help explain this relationship. The authors analyze the Understanding Coronavirus in America tracking survey, a nationally representative panel of American households, along with county-level contextual data. The authors find an n-shaped relationship between coethnic concentration and Asians' perceived discrimination. This relationship is explained largely by county-level COVID-19 infection rates. Together, the context of medium Asian concentration and high COVID-19 cases created a particularly hostile environment for Asians during COVID-19.

Profiling racial prejudice during COVID-19: Who exhibits anti-Asian sentiment in Australia and the United States?

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, anti-Asian racism increased around the world, as exhibited through greater instances of abuse and hate crimes. To better understand the scale of anti-Asian racism and the characteristics of people who may be expressing racial prejudice, we sampled respondents in Australia and the United States over 31 August-9 September 2020 (1375 Australians and 1060 Americans aged 18 or above; source YouGov). To address potential social desirability bias, we use both direct and indirect (list experiment) questions to measure anti-Asian sentiment and link these variables to key socioeconomic factors. We find that, instead of being universal among general populations, anti-Asian sentiment is patterned differently across both country contexts and socioeconomic groups. In the United States, the most significant predictor of anti-Asian bias is political affiliation. By contrast, in Australia, anti-Asian bias is closely linked to a wide range of socioeconomic factors including political affiliation, age, gender, employment status and income.

"Making it work: Migration, motherhood and employment in Australia".

The transition into motherhood is often associated with a reduction in women's labor force participation, reinforcing gender employment hierarchies. Our study compares women's employment status and paid work time prior to and following birth among immigrants and native-borns in Australia. We also consider how these outcomes differ by generation status and racial and ethnic background. Australia provides a valuable context to understand these outcomes given its skilled migration policy, racial and ethnic diversity, limited childcare and family leave policies, and high rates of part-time work among mothers. We examine longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) for women from 2001 to 2016. We find that migrant women show lower employment levels and commensurate work hours than native-borns prior to childbirth. After childbirth, migrant mothers maintain lower employment levels, but higher work hours than native-born mothers. Overall, we find that relative to native-borns, migrant women typically experience a smaller reduction in employment and work hours following childbirth, but some of this is likely due to their lower starting position prior to childbirth. Our findings have implications for skilled immigration policies and highlights the unique work-family pressures facing immigrant and native-born women.

Does the healthy immigrant effect apply to mental health? Examining the effects of immigrant generation and racial and ethnic background among Australian adults.

The healthy immigrant effect (HIE) refers to the phenomena in which immigrants show greater health outcomes than the native-born population. However, it is unclear what is the extent to which HIE applies to various outcomes and populations. Much of the work on HIE has revolved around physical health outcomes; mental health, however, has not garnered the same level of attention with regard to HIE. It is also uncertain whether immigrants' health advantage persists beyond one generation. This study assesses the mental health of the first, second, and third and higher generations (70,517 person-year observations) for individuals from various racial and ethnic backgrounds in Australia using Waves 1-16 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The dependent variable is mental health score and key independent variables include generation and racial and ethnic background. I control for age, educational attainment, labor force status, marital status, remoteness, household income, language, neighborhood disadvantage, citizenship, weight, and gender. Using linear regression with random effects, this study finds that mental health varies by generation; the third and higher generation show the greatest mental health score, followed by the first generation and the second generation, net of controls. Mental health score also varies by racial and ethnic background. Except for English-speaking groups, native-born Australians show a clear advantage over Europeans, North Africans/Middle Easterners, and Asians. Racial and ethnic disparities differ by generation and are strongest among the first generation. My findings extend HIE, which typically emphasize immigrants' superior health outcomes over the native-born population but do not focus on racial and ethnic disparities among immigrants. My results suggest that immigrant groups vary widely in their mental health outcomes but these lessen over time. Overall, the findings suggest the limited applicability of HIE for a broad range of health outcomes and populations.

Immigrant health around the world: evidence from the World Values Survey.

We describe the relationship between immigrant status and self-rated health around the world, both in raw descriptive statistics and in models controlling for individual characteristics. Using the World Values Survey (1981-2005), we analyze data from 32 different countries worldwide. We estimate four regression models per country. The basic model tests mean differences in self-rated health. Additional models add demographic and social class controls. Introduction of control variables (most particularly, age) changes the results dramatically. In the final model, net of controls, only two countries show poorer immigrant health and three countries show better immigrant health. The multivariate regression models net of controls show few differences in health status between immigrants and the native born. The age structure of immigrant populations is an important mediator of differences in health status compared to the native-born population.