The University of Otago (Wellington) research found high rates of psychological distress, but lower rates of diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders in Pacific adults.
Lead author and psychological medicine PhD candidate Joanna Ataera-Minster said it was consistent with literature on mental health service use in Pacific adults, and suggested ongoing barriers to mental healthcare needed to be addressed for Pacific peoples.
"When we compared different groups of Pacific adults, the rates of diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders were higher among those born in Aotearoa New Zealand than overseas-born Pacific, with rates appearing to increase as time spent in New Zealand increased.
"When we looked at Pacific adults affiliated with multiple ethnic groups, the risk of diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders was almost three times higher than in sole-Pacific adults."
The research team examined five consecutive years of data from the annual New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS), spanning 2014-15 to 2018-19.
Data from 4335 Pacific adults and more than 50,000 non-Māori, non-Pacific adults were compared.
The mental health inequities and within-Pacific differences persisted even after the researchers accounted for various socioeconomic and demographic explanatory factors in their analysis, she said.
"It isn’t clear from our research why these differences exist, but we can surmise that the social and cultural determinants of mental health are likely contributing factors.
"These socio-cultural determinants include things such as exposure to racism, challenges surrounding one’s cultural and ethnic identity, stressors associated with migration and acculturation and the ongoing impacts of colonisation."
The study was the first in a two-part cross-disciplinary research project with co-authors and supervisors Jesse Kokaua, Ruth Cunningham and Susanna Every-Palmer.
The second part involved using General Social Survey data to explore whether identity — a significant socio-cultural determinant of mental health — protects the psychological wellbeing of Pacific adults.
Ms Ataera-Minster said although the first study did not encompass the 2022-23 to 2023-24 NZHS, the latest results were consistent with her research.
"The new results show Pacific adults are 1.3 times as likely to have experienced psychological distress as non-Māori and non-Pacific adults."
She said New Zealand needed to continue to build a sustainable Pacific mental health workforce and equip non-Pacific mental health workers to deliver culturally safe care to address health inequities.
Mental health promotion also needed to be approached more broadly, she said.
"For example, strengthening cultural connectedness through programmes that build knowledge of Pacific cultural customs and traditions, language skills, ancestry and connections with extended kin.
"This is especially important since many of these seem to be protective of mental health in various global indigenous and migrant population groups."
She said another nationally representative mental health survey with structured diagnostic interviews based on clinical criteria was needed.
"Ideally, there would be routine monitoring of national mental health through a survey like this every 10 years.
This is resource and time intensive, but yields valuable information on mental health conditions in population groups, and can help us identify subpopulations with higher needs."
— APL
