Workplace discrimination in relation to mental well-being and suicidal ideation

Despite many individuals experiencing discrimination at work, research elucidating the implications of workplace discrimination for mental health is limited. We aimed to estimate the hypothesised dose-response relationships of frequency and number of types of discrimination at work with poor mental well-being and suicidal ideation. We analysed cross-sectional data from 2594 participants (57% male, mean age: 42.3 years, response rate 14.3%) of the 2021 wave of a study examining job quality and well-being in Luxembourg. Participants were asked how often they were exposed to discrimination due to sex, age, ethnicity, religion/worldview, nationality, disability or sexual orientation at work within the last year. They were also asked for suicidal ideation during the last year. Poor mental well-being was measured via the WHO-5 Well-being Index. Logistic regression estimated the associations of reported frequency and number of types of discrimination with poor mental well-being and suicidal ideation. We observed increasing odds of both outcomes in association with increments in the frequency and number of types of discrimination. Compared to participants reporting no experience of discrimination, individuals exposed to discrimination weekly or daily had elevated odds of poor mental well-being (Odds Ratio (OR): 1.73, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.04- 2.90) and suicidal ideation (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.21-4.71). Exposure to three types of discrimination was also associated with poor mental well-being (OR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.02 - 2.66) and suicidal ideation (OR: 2.33, 95% CI: 1.17-4.64). Even though the design of our analysis does not allow causal conclusions, its results point towards a dose-response relationship between workplace discrimination and poor mental well-being as well as suicidal ideation.