Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Author Spotlight: Increasing TMS Accessibility Through Braiding Techniques for Diverse Hair Types
Published on: August 9, 2024
Discrimination, marginalization, belonging, and mental health among Somali immigrants in North America
Alisa K Lincoln1, Emma Cardeli2, George Sideridis3
1Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, Northeastern University.
Abstract:
In this study, we examined the relationships among discrimination and mental health for Somali young adults, a group at risk for an unfavorable context of reception, and the way in which individual- and community-level factors explain these associations. The present study drew upon data collected during the first wave of the Somali Youth Longitudinal Study, a community-based participatory research project focused on understanding and supporting the healthy development of Somali young adults in four different regions in North America: Boston, MA, Minneapolis, MN, and Portland/Lewiston, ME in the United States and Toronto, Canada. Somali men and women aged 18-30 participated in quantitative interviews that included questions about their health, their neighborhoods, and their thoughts and feelings about their resettlement communities (N = 439). Results indicate that discrimination has a direct effect on worse mental health; this effect was mediated through both individual (marginalized acculturation style) and community-level (sense of belonging) factors. These findings suggest that factors associated with a receiving society's attitudes and behaviors, in addition to its structural supports and constraints, may be particularly important in understanding immigrant mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Related Concept Videos
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Stereotype Content Model
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Motivational Bias
In- and Out-Groups
Surveys

