Healthcare (Commonwealth Union) – Pacific adults in New Zealand face significantly higher levels of psychological distress compared to non-Māori, non-Pacific adults, according to new research from the University of Otago, Wellington – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke.
Published in Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, the study highlights a concerning disparity: while Pacific adults experience elevated psychological distress, they show lower rates of diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders. These findings align with existing research on mental health service use among Pacific adults, underscoring persistent barriers to accessing adequate mental health care for Pacific Peoples.
Lead author Joanna Ataera-Minster, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychological Medicine, emphasizes that mental health outcomes differ significantly within the Pacific population.
She indicated that their analysis revealed that Pacific adults born in New Zealand exhibited higher rates of diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders compared to those born overseas, with these rates increasing the longer individuals had lived in New Zealand.
Additionally, Pacific adults who identify with multiple ethnic groups (multi-ethnic Pacific) faced nearly three times the risk of diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders compared to those who identify solely as Pacific as indicated by the lead author.
The research team analyzed data from five consecutive years of the New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS), covering 2014/15 to 2018/19.
The study compared responses from 4,335 Pacific adults with those of over 50,000 non-Māori, non-Pacific (nMnP) adults.
According to Ms. Ataera-Minster, the analysis revealed that mental health inequities and disparities within the Pacific population remained evident, even after adjusting for various socioeconomic and demographic factors.
“It isn’t clear from our research why these differences exist, but we can surmise from related studies 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.”
This study is the first in a two-part cross-disciplinary research project led by co-authors and supervisors Jesse Kokaua, Ruth Cunningham, and Susanna Every-Palmer.
The second phase of the project will analyze General Social Survey data to investigate whether identity—a key socio-cultural determinant of mental health—provides psychological protection for Pacific adults.
Ms. Ataera-Minster notes that while this initial study did not include the recently released 2023/24 New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS) data, its findings align with her research, as did the previous 2022/23 survey results.
She indicated that the latest results reveal that Pacific adults are 1.3 times more likely to experience psychological distress compared to non-Māori and non-Pacific adults.
Ms. Ataera-Minster emphasizes the need for Aotearoa to build a sustainable Pacific mental health workforce and to ensure non-Pacific mental health workers are equipped to provide culturally safe care. Addressing health inequities for Pacific adults also requires a broader approach to mental health promotion, she further indicated.
“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.”
Ms. Ataera-Minster highlights the need for another nationally representative mental health survey incorporating structured diagnostic interviews based on clinical criteria.
She pointed out that ideally, a survey of this kind would be conducted every 10 years to routinely monitor national mental health trends.
Ms. Ataera-Minster also indicated that while such surveys are resource and time-intensive, they provide invaluable insights into mental health conditions across population groups and help identify subpopulations with greater needs.
She notes that the most recent survey of this nature, Te Rau Hinengaro (New Zealand Mental Health Survey), was conducted over 20 years ago, in 2002/03.
