Caste and COVID‐19: Psychosocial disparities amongst rural Indian women during the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated preexisting mental health disparities. In India, marginalization based on caste membership, gender, and rural residence are critical determinants of inequity across the lifespan. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of minority stress and intersectionality, this study examined caste-based disparities in fear of coronavirus (FOC), mental health symptoms, and perceived loneliness amongst rural women in north India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N = 316) completed self-report measures and were classified into three groups based on their responses: General caste (GC, n = 124), other backward castes (OBC, n = 122), and scheduled caste or tribe (SC/ST, n = 71). Using a threeway ANOVA and Tukey t-tests, women in SC/ST and OBC groups reported greater FOC (OBC d = .37; SC/ST d = .40) and greater mental health symptoms (OBC d = .58; SC/ST d = .43) relative to the GC group. OBC, but not SC/ST, group also reported higher perceived loneliness (d = .32). The results were consistent after adjusting for demographic variables such as wealth and highlight caste asThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

How the COVID‐19 global pandemic further jeopardized women's health, mental well‐being, and safety: Intersectionality framework and social policy action

“…For example, semistructured interviews with 35 women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the global pandemic allowed mothers to explain how this unprecedented health crisis impacted their stress, isolation, social support, and coping (Williams et al, 2023). Examinations of class-based differences in women's experiences can be seen in Jiwani et al (2023) study with more than 300 women in India. Through the use of highly structured interviews, this study affords insight into how women of different castes experienced fear, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19 global pandemic.…”

“…Examinations of class‐based differences in women's experiences can be seen in Jiwani et al. (2023) study with more than 300 women in India. Through the use of highly structured interviews, this study affords insight into how women of different castes experienced fear, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID‐19 global pandemic.…”

“…Diving deeper into the role of income disparities, interviews with more than 300 women across four castes in India confirmed that caste levels compounded women's mental health problems. Women in lower castes reported greater fear of COVID‐19 (which is related to lower rates of seeking care), higher levels of loneliness, and worse depression, anxiety, and stress (Jiwani et al., 2023).…”

Assessing a Community-Based Maternal Self-Efficacy Intervention in Rural India using a Quasi-Experimental Design

“…The size of the beta for this group was larger than the overall sample, indicating that participation in the intervention may have been more beneficial for mothers who identify as low caste. This is significant given that relative to high-caste individuals, low-caste individuals in India face significantly worse outcomes across a range of socioeconomic and health indicators (Bhagavatheeswaran et al, 2016; Chauhan, 2008; Dalal & Lindqvist, 2012; Jiwani et al, 2022; Khubchandani et al, 2018; Thomas et al, 2013). Thus, identifying interventions that can specifically support low-caste families to help infants and toddlers reach their full potential is especially important.…”

“…Caste membership has been found to be another critical determinant of wellbeing across the lifespan in India (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Research has consistently demonstrated that relative to high-caste individuals, low-caste individuals experience worse health and social outcomes, including a lower life expectancy (Thomas et al, 2013), worse educational outcomes (Chauhan, 2008), greater perceived discrimination (Bhagavatheeswaran et al, 2016; Khubchandani et al, 2018), worse mental health, and higher exposure to violence (Jiwani et al, 2022b) amongst other disparities. As such, it may be important to include such factors as potential covariates when examining the efficacy of any intervention in the Indian context.…”