Hostile attitudes toward immigrants and refugees are associated with poor self-rated health. Analysis of 21 European countries

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous studies found that individuals who harbor hostile attitudes toward immigrants & refugees tend to vote for far right nationalist parties, and that the same individuals also tend to report worse health status. We sought to test these associations using the latest data from 21 EU countries, and also whether the associations were moderated by the share of unemployed people in each region and individuals' labor situation. METHODS: We analyzed the second release of the 2016 European Social Survey which includes different questions about attitudes toward immigrants and refugees, as well as a rich variety of socioeconomic variables. Multilevel Poisson regression models were developed, regressing fair/poor health on attitudes towards immigrants & refugees. RESULTS: For each one point increase in favorable attitudes toward immigrants, the prevalence of fair/poor health was reduced by 2 percentage points (PR = 0.98; 95%CI: 0.96-0.99). In analyses incorporating cross-level interactions, the association was not moderated by high background unemployment rates or individual labor market attachment. CONCLUSION: Positive attitudes toward immigrants are correlated with lower prevalence of fair/poor health in general, regardless of individuals' labor situation and the objective economic situation. Fostering empathy toward immigrants and refugees may thus promote a healthier society, especially among more prejudiced individuals.