The role of discrimination, religiosity, social support and education level on the mental health of Afghan refugees in Russia

Abstract Refugees are people who often escape adverse conditions before arriving in the host country (Convention UNHCR, 1951). Russia, like many other countries in the world, hosts large numbers of refugees, however little attention has been given to the mental health of refugees living in Russia and psychosocial factors that may affect it. This research sought to address this gap and investigated the psychosocial factors that affect refugees’ distress level. The psychosocial factors studied include discrimination, social support, religiosity, and education level and those factors’ role in the manifestation of distress level. The sample consisted of 96 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers living in Russia aged 18 to 60 years old. The following measures were used: Afghan Symptom Checklist (Miller et al., 2010), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988), the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (Huber& Huber, 2012), and Discrimination and Education level scales from the MIRIPS questionnaire (Berry, 1997). The results indicated that higher social support from significant others is negatively related to distress, whereas higher social support specifically from family members showed no significance. We also found that perceived discrimination was positively related to distress. Moreover, the study indicated that higher religiosity (faith) weakened the positive relationship between perceived discrimination and distress, acting as a protective factor in such relations. Finally, the study indicated that higher education level strengthened the positive relationship between perceived discrimination and distress. Findings from the current study suggest that more attention should be given to the psychological and sociological factors that affect the distress level of Afghan refugees in Russia. Keywords: Refugees, distress, discrimination, religiosity, social support, education level, legal status, mental health