The effects of COVID-19 and collective identity trauma (intersectional discrimination) on social status and well-being

To understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting minorities’ victims of discrimination, we examined its impact as traumatic stress, coupled with intersected discriminations, on socioeconomic status and well-being. We used previously collected data from 1,374 participants from seven Arab countries. The data included measures of COVID-19 traumatic stress, collective identity trauma (intersected discrimination), socioeconomic status, well-being, existential status and death anxieties, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and general anxiety. We analyzed the data using path analysis and multigroup invariance. Results indicated that COVID-19 traumatic stress coupled with collective identity traumas (intersected discrimination) increased existential status and death anxieties and contributed significantly to lower social status and reduced well-being, and increased posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. The conclusion is that COVID-19 creates a vicious cycle, with disparities/inequalities increasing infection and death from COVID-19, and COVID-19 increasing disparities/inequalities further. We found that these relationships’ path model is strictly invariant across gender and strongly invariant across the country groups tested. We discussed the conceptual, clinical, and social justice implications and limitations of the study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)