Unequal outcomes: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and wellbeing among Hispanic/Latinos with varying degrees of ‘Belonging’

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought disparities in mental and physical health faced by ethnic minorities to the forefront. In the U.S., Hispanic/Latino communities are plagued by elevated rates of psychiatric conditions and trauma. Exacerbating this burden, common discourse often implicates Hispanic/Latino ethnicity as a causal factor, despite clear evidence of systemic causes, including lack of access to resources, and discrimination. To parse apart Hispanic/Latino ethnicity from determinants of wellbeing (such as trauma, financial status, and loneliness), we examined mental and physical health during COVID-19 via an online, anonymous survey available in both English and Spanish. We examined wellbeing across three participant groups, including two groups of Hispanic/Latino adults with varying degrees of ‘belonging’ to the dominant culture in their country of residence: Hispanic/Latino individuals living in Spanish-speaking and/or Central or Latin American countries (Group 1), Hispanic/Latino individuals living in the U.S. (Group 2), and non-Hispanic/Latino individuals living in the U.S. (Group 3). Results demonstrated there were significant differences between groups in specific aspects of wellbeing. Most importantly, results showed Hispanic/Latino ethnicity does not significantly predict psychosocial wellbeing or psychosis risk, and identified several predictors of these outcomes, including U.S. residence, trauma, loneliness, and age. Our results demonstrate that Hispanic/Latino ethnicity itself is not a causal factor of poor psychosocial wellbeing or elevated psychosis risk and instead identify several social and systemic causal factors commonly faced by Hispanic/Latino Americans. We suggest that language reporting on minority mental health acknowledge systemic factors as contributing to poor outcome rather than referring to ethnicity as if it were a causal factor.