DISCRIMINATION AND COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS IN A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF SANTA CATARINA, SOUTHERN BRAZIL

INTRODUCTION: The deleterious effect of discrimination on mental health has been consistently documented in the literature. However, there is a paucity of studies assessing such a relation in Brazil, especially through an approach that includes multiples types of discrimination and an evaluation of dose-response relationships. This study aimed at investigating the association between personally-mediated discriminatory experiences motivated by multiples causes and common mental disorders, including the adjustment for potential confounders, moderator variables and assessment of dose-response relationships.

METHODS: In 2012, 1.023 students from the Federal University of Santa Catarina answered a questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, type of undergraduate course, experiences of discrimination and common mental disorders. Associations were analyzed with logistic regression models, adjusted for the complex sampling design.

RESULTS: A strong and positive relation between discriminatory experiences and common mental disorders was observed, with an odds ratio of 2.16 (95%CI 1.67, 2.80). Among individuals reporting discriminatory experiences in high frequency and intensity, the odds of presenting common mental disorders was 4.82 times higher (95%CI 1.66, 13.96), which is an indicative of a dose-response relationship between these phenomena. However, the association between discrimination and common mental disorders was moderated by type of undergraduate course, being 0.43 (95% CI 0.36, 0.50) and 2.30 (95% CI 2.04, 2.59) among Electrical Engineering and Dentistry students, respectively, when compared to those from Accounting Sciences, who did not report discrimination.

CONCLUSIONS: The dose-response relationship between experiences of discrimination and common mental disorders reinforces the causal nature of this association. However, the observed moderation by type of undergraduate course should be considered in future studies for a better understanding of both phenomena.