Primary Submission Category: Social/relational factors
Macroeconomic antecedents of involuntary psychiatric commitments among non-western immigrants in Denmark
Authors: Parvati Singh Marquianna Griffin Abhery Das Camilla Hvidtfeldt Lars Andersen Tim Bruckner
Presenting Author: Parvati Singh*
Economic downturns may serve as ambient stressors that precede increased aggression against vulnerable groups that, in turn, may manifest as increased reporting of individuals from minority groups for involuntary psychiatric commitments (coercive admissions to psychiatric treatment facilities against a person’s will). This expectation aligns with “scapegoating” of specific minority groups during heightened ambient stress. Social propensity to scapegoat minority groups, supported by the frustration-aggression-displacement hypothesis, suggests that frustration experienced by the larger community may lead to displaced aggression towards minority groups who are viewed as being hostile to the social order. In Denmark, non-western immigrants and refugees/asylum seekers may serve as the “scapegoated” minority group, particularly owing to their rapid increase in relative size over the past two decades, coupled with surges in anti-immigrant sentiment across Western Europe. We examine the relation between quarterly aggregated counts of unemployed persons (exposure) and involuntary psychiatric commitments among non-western immigrants in Denmark (outcome), over 52 quarters, from 2006 to 2018. Results from time-series AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) analyses indicate 94 additional involuntary psychiatric commitments among non-western immigrants with increase in 100,000 additional unemployed persons in the concurrent quarter (p-value < 0.01). Results remain consistent after controlling for voluntary or “regular” psychiatric inpatient admissions among non-western immigrants. Our findings provide the first evidence of racial/ethnic scapegoating through increased involuntary psychiatric commitments of vulnerable minority groups in Denmark during periods of heightened ambient stress.