Health Effects of Interpersonal and Structural Discrimination on Minority Groups in Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID8020002
AuthorsJ Mitchell (0000-0003-2500-1686, Department of Sociology Umeå University Umeå Sweden), Daniel La Parra‐casado (0000-0002-9096-3972, Department of Sociology University of Alicante Alicante Spain)
Year2025
Volume47
Issue5
Pagese70054-e70054
Publication date2025-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.70054
PMID40491029
OpenAlexW4411193110
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited73

This article analyses the health effects of discrimination experiences across several minority groups in Europe. Despite a broad literature advancing the idea that discrimination is a focal point for the social determinants of health among minority groups, research attempting to disentangle the health effects of interpersonal forms of discrimination and harassment from structural forms of discrimination is underexamined. Furthermore, these experiences may impact different minority groups to a greater or lesser extent due to that group's position in the social hierarchy. We address this gap in the literature by analysing the Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU‐MIDIS II), including 19,179 respondents in six minority groups across 25 countries. We show that experiencing interpersonal discrimination and harassment has a large and consistent negative effect on the health of respondents across all groups, with some variation across different minority groups. This finding is concerning given how common these experiences are in the European context. We also show a small but consistent relationship across groups between living in segregated neighbourhoods and poorer health, whereas a negative relationship between health and living in overcrowded housing exists only for the Russian minority

Interpersonal communication · Political science · Health disparities and outcomes · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social Psychology