Exploring the impact of ‘hostile environment’ policies on psychological distress of ethnic groups in the UK: a differences-in-differences analysis

Abstract

Abstract Purpose In 2012, the UK government announced policies designed to create a ‘hostile environment for illegal migration.’ This included sweeping changes immigration legislation which included the introduction of immigration controls enforced by employers and landlords and anti-migrant rhetoric in the press. In this paper, we measured changes in psychological distress among people from ethnic minoritised groups compared to White British controls from prior to the introduction of the hostile environment policies through their implementation. Methods We used Understanding Society, a UK longitudinal household survey from 2009 to 2020 (Waves 1 to 10). We included six ethnic groups: Bangladeshi, Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, and White British. We used difference-in-difference models to estimate the marginal mean psychological distress score, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) during the three eras: pre-policy era (2009–2012); (2) transition era (2012–2016); and (3) ongoing policy era (2016–2020). Results In the pre-policy era, we found elevated levels of psychological distress (marginal mean = 2.70), Bangladeshi and Caribbean groups (marginal mean = 2.47) compared to the White British group (2.08). Psychological distress increased during the transition era for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups (2.92 and 2.71, respectively), and continued to rise in the ongoing policy era for the Bangladeshi group (2.80). We observed lower psychological distress in the African group in the pre-policy era (2.16), decreasing in the transition era (1.91), and a small increase in the ongoing policy era (1.95). The Indian group showed similar patterns to the African group. In contrast, psychological distress remained stable across all three eras for the White British group. Conclusion Psychological distress increased in Pakistani and Bangladeshi individuals following the introduction of hostile environment policies. We did not find an impact for Indian, African, or Caribbean groups. This finding underscores the importance of disaggregating analyses by ethnic group to capture the distinct identities and experiences and how these intersect with mental health.