Comparing emotion regulation, perceived discrimination, perceived social support and anxiety in North African immigrant and native French populations.

Discrimination is a major psychosocial stressor associated with adverse mental health outcomes among ethnic minorities. However, the mechanisms linking discrimination to anxiety remain poorly understood, particularly among North African populations in France. Drawing on Hatzenbuehler's minority stress mediation framework, this study examined whether emotion regulation and perceived social support explain the relationship between perceived discrimination and anxiety. A total of 370 adults living in France (198 North African immigrants and 172 native French participants) completed measures of anxiety (GAD-7), perceived discrimination (InDI-M), emotion regulation (CERQ-short), and perceived social support (MSPSS). Group comparisons and mediation analyses were conducted using non-parametric tests and bootstrapping. North African participants reported higher levels of perceived discrimination than native French participants, but differences were found for anxiety or maladaptive emotion regulation. Mediation analyses showed that only among North African participants, perceived discrimination was associated with higher anxiety, partially through maladaptive emotion regulation. These findings suggest that discrimination may be associated with anxiety through emotion regulation processes rather than through differences in overall anxiety levels between groups, highlighting the importance of examining culturally and socially embedded psychological mechanisms linking discrimination to emotional well-being.