The Role of Financial Insecurity, Racial Discrimination, and Comorbid Health Conditions on Mental Health in Canada and the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Canada and the United States have long histories of racism that permeate every institution and structure in our societies. While anti-racism movements have gained strength in recent years, we know very little about current rates of discrimination in the two countries or the impact on communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Informed by critical race feminist theory, this paper examines levels of discrimination experienced by survey participants from Canada and the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic with a cross-sectional survey conducted during October 2021. We then assessed the broader impact of experiencing discrimination on depressive symptoms using logistic regression analysis. In both Canada and the US, multivariate logistic regression maintained that experiencing discrimination resulted in higher probabilities of reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Other important factors included age, financial insecurity, and comorbid health conditions. Overall findings suggest that Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities who experienced discrimination reported higher rates of depressive symptoms despite controlling for other factors. From a comparative perspective, discrimination rates were similar in Canada and the US, and had similar proportions across racial/ethnic groups. Discrimination rates did not vary significantly by gender, nor was gender a statistically significant risk factor for depressive symptoms. Further research, including qualitative studies, could fully assess the impact of gender on experiences of racism and depressive symptoms during the pandemic. The paper concludes with policy and public education suggestions to combat racial discrimination and highlights the need for added government action during times of crises. Keywords: COVID-19, racism, discrimination, mental health, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers, racialized persons, critical race feminism. Le Canada et les Etats-Unis ont une longue histoire de racisme qui se retrouve dans toutes les institutions et structures de nos societes. Bien que les mouvements antiracistes aient gagne en force ces dernieres annees, nous savons tres peu de choses sur les taux actuels de discrimination dans les deux pays ou sur l'impact sur les communautes pendant la pandemie de COVID-19. S'inspirant de la theorie feministe du racisme critique, cet article examine les niveaux de discrimination subis par les participants du Canada and des Etats-Unis pendant la pandemie de COVID-19, a l'aide d'une enquete transversale menee en Octobre 2021. Nous avons ensuite evalue l'impact plus large de l'experience de la discrimination sur les symptomes depressifs en utilisant une analyse de regression logistique. Au Canada comme aux Etats-Unis, la regression logistique multivariee a continue que le tait d'avoir ete victime de discrimination entratnait une probabilite plus elevee de signaler des symptomes depressits moderes ou graves. Les autres tacteurs importants etaient l'age, l'insecurite tinanciere et la comorbidite. Les resultats globaux suggerent que les communautes indigenes, noires et autres communautes racialisees ayant ete victimes de discrimination presentent des taux plus eleves de symptomes depressits, malgre la prise en compte d'autres tacteurs. D'un point de vue comparatit, les taux de discrimination etaient similaires au Canada et aux Etats-Unis, et presentaient des proportions similaires dans tous les groupes raciaux/ethniques. Les taux de discrimination ne varient pas de maniere signiticative en tonction du sexe, et le sexe n'est pas un tacteur de risque statistiquement signiticatit pour les symptomes depressits. D'autres recherches, notamment des etudes qualitatives, pourraient permettre d'evaluer pleinement l'impact du sexe sur les experiences de racisme et les symptomes depressits pendant la pandemie. L'article se termine par des suggestions de politiques et d'education du public pour lutter contre la discrimination raciale et souligne la necessite d'une action gouvernementale supplementaire en periode de crise. Mots-cles : COVID-19, racisme, discrimination, sante mentale, peuples autochtones, nouveaux arrivants, personnes racialisees, theorie critique de la race et teminisme.
INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic intensified racial discrimination against Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities in many places around the world (Beers et al. 2021; Lee and Johnstone 2021; Mensah and [...]