Post-migration living difficulties and poor mental health associated with increased interpretation bias for threat

Abstract

Previous research has found associations between mental health difficulties and interpretation biases, including heightened interpretation of threat from neutral or ambiguous stimuli. Building on this research, we explored associations between interpretation biases (positive and negative) and three constructs that have been linked to migrant experience: mental health symptoms (GSI), post-migration living difficulties (PMLD) and perceived ethnic discrimination (PEDQ). Two hundred and thirty students who identified as first- (n = 94) or second-generation ethnic minority migrants (n = 68), and first-generation White migrants (n = 68) completed measures of GSI, PEDQ, and PMLD. They also performed an interpretation bias task using Point-Light Walkers (PLW), dynamic stimuli with reduced visual input that are easily perceived as humans performing an action. Five categories of PLW were used: four that clearly depicted human forms undertaking positive, neutral, negative, or ambiguous actions, and a fifth that involved scrambled animations with no clear action or form. Participants were asked to imagine their interaction with the stimuli and rate their friendliness (positive interpretation bias) and aggressiveness (interpretation bias for threat). We found that the three groups differed on PEDQ and PMLD, with no significant differences in GSI, and the three measured were positively correlated. Poorer mental health and increased PMLD were associated with a heightened interpretation for threat of scrambled animations only. These findings have implications for understanding of the role of threat biases in mental health and the migrant experience.

The Status and Prospects of Research on Interpretation Bias

“…Conversely, individuals displaying elevated positive emotions tend to exhibit a bias towards positive interpretations, as evidenced in studies examining trait gratitude [37] . Moreover, an individual's mental health challenges correlate with an inclination towards negative interpretations, with poorer mental health exacerbating tendencies towards either neutral or negative explanations [38] . Furthermore, research has elucidated that trait positivity correlates with diminished negative interpretation bias, and that positivity can directly mitigate an individual's propensity towards negative interpretation bias, either independently or through the attenuation of negative emotions [39] .…”