IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v67y2021i3p290-297.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental illnesses and related vulnerabilities in the Hijra community: A cross-sectional study from India

Author

Listed:
  • Deepak Sartaj
  • Vijay Krishnan
  • Ravindra Rao
  • Atul Ambekar
  • Neeraj Dhingra
  • Pratap Sharan

Abstract

Purpose: The Hijra community is a cultural and gender grouping in South Asia broadly similar to western transgender communities, but with literature suggesting some differences in gender experience and patterns of psychosocial adversity. The present study aims to describe patterns of mental illness and psychoactive substance use in Hijra subjects and study their association with gender experience and psychosocial adversity. Methods: Fifty self-identified Hijras availing HIV-prevention services in New Delhi, India, were interviewed. Data on mental disorders, psychoactive substance use, quality of life, discrimination, empowerment, violence and gender identity were assessed using structured instruments. Results: Subjects were mostly in their mid-twenties, and had joined the Hijra community in their mid-teens. More subjects (46%) were involved in begging than in traditional Hijra roles (38%). Sex work was reported by 28% subjects. The rates of lifetime mental illness was 38%, most commonly alcohol abuse (26%); others had anxiety or depressive disorders (8% each), somatoform disorders (6%) and bulimia nervosa ( n = 1). Disempowerment was mostly experienced in domains of autonomy and community participation; 52% had experienced sexual or psychological violence. Discrimination was attributed to gender (100%), appearance (28%) or sexual orientation (28%). There were negative correlations between the physical domain of WHO-QOL and physical violence and depression scores; and between discrimination and WHO-QOL environmental, physical and psychological domains. Conclusions: This Hijra group showed high rates of mental disorder and substance involvement, related to QOL domains and experiences of discrimination and disempowerment.

Suggested Citation

  • Deepak Sartaj & Vijay Krishnan & Ravindra Rao & Atul Ambekar & Neeraj Dhingra & Pratap Sharan, 2021. "Mental illnesses and related vulnerabilities in the Hijra community: A cross-sectional study from India," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(3), pages 290-297, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:67:y:2021:i:3:p:290-297
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764020950775
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764020950775
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764020950775?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nuttbrock, L. & Bockting, W. & Rosenblum, A. & Hwahng, S. & Mason, M. & Macri, M. & Becker, J., 2014. "Gender abuse, depressive symptoms, and substance use among transgender women: A 3-year prospective study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(11), pages 2199-2206.
    2. Krieger, Nancy & Smith, Kevin & Naishadham, Deepa & Hartman, Cathy & Barbeau, Elizabeth M., 2005. "Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1576-1596, October.
    3. Ramirez-Valles, J. & Garcia, D. & Campbell, R.T. & Diaz, R.M. & Heckathorn, D.D., 2008. "HIV infection, sexual risk behavior, and substance use among Latino gay and bisexual men and transgender persons," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(6), pages 1036-1042.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabian T C Schmidt & Clemens M Lechner & Daniel Danner, 2020. "New wine in an old bottle? A facet-level perspective on the added value of Grit over BFI–2 Conscientiousness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Alfonso Urzúa & Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar & Diego Henríquez & David R. Williams, 2021. "Discrimination and Health: The Mediating Effect of Acculturative Stress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-11, May.
    3. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2012. "Discrimination makes me sick! An examination of the discrimination–health relationship," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 99-111.
    4. Correa-Velez, Ignacio & Gifford, Sandra M. & Barnett, Adrian G., 2010. "Longing to belong: Social inclusion and wellbeing among youth with refugee backgrounds in the first three years in Melbourne, Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1399-1408, October.
    5. Lynn N. Ibekwe & Maria Eugenia Fernández-Esquer & Sandi L. Pruitt & Nalini Ranjit & Maria E. Fernández, 2021. "Racism and Cancer Screening among Low-Income, African American Women: A Multilevel, Longitudinal Analysis of 2-1-1 Texas Callers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-19, October.
    6. Shippee, Tetyana Pylypiv & Schafer, Markus H. & Ferraro, Kenneth F., 2012. "Beyond the barriers: Racial discrimination and use of complementary and alternative medicine among Black Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1155-1162.
    7. Marcelle M. Dougan & Marian Tzuang & Bora Nam & Oanh L. Meyer & Janice Y. Tsoh & Van M. Ta Park, 2024. "Discrimination Experiences among Asian American and Pacific Islander Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Association with Mental Health Outcomes: Updated Findings from the COMPASS Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Nancy Krieger & Pamela D Waterman & Anna Kosheleva & Jarvis T Chen & Dana R Carney & Kevin W Smith & Gary G Bennett & David R Williams & Elmer Freeman & Beverley Russell & Gisele Thornhill & Kristin M, 2011. "Exposing Racial Discrimination: Implicit & Explicit Measures–The My Body, My Story Study of 1005 US-Born Black & White Community Health Center Members," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-24, November.
    9. Bradby, Hannah, 2012. "Race, ethnicity and health: The costs and benefits of conceptualising racism and ethnicity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(6), pages 955-958.
    10. Kara Chan & Sherrill Evans & Marcus Chiu & Peter Huxley & Yu-Leung Ng, 2015. "Relationship Between Health, Experience of Discrimination, and Social Inclusion Among Mental Health Service Users in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 127-139, October.
    11. Gee, Gilbert C. & Spencer, Michael & Chen, Juan & Yip, Tiffany & Takeuchi, David T., 2007. "The association between self-reported racial discrimination and 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders among Asian Americans nationwide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1984-1996, May.
    12. Ana Isabel Maldonado & Carol B. Cunradi & Anna María Nápoles, 2020. "Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Latino Men: The Mediating Effects of Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, November.
    13. Harnois, Catherine E. & Bastos, João L. & Campbell, Mary E. & Keith, Verna M., 2019. "Measuring perceived mistreatment across diverse social groups: An evaluation of the Everyday Discrimination Scale," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 298-306.
    14. Gee, Gilbert & Walsemann, Katrina, 2009. "Does health predict the reporting of racial discrimination or do reports of discrimination predict health? Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1676-1684, May.
    15. Anders Larrabee Sonderlund & Antoinette Schoenthaler & Trine Thilsing, 2021. "The Association between Maternal Experiences of Interpersonal Discrimination and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Systematic Review of the Evidence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-31, February.
    16. Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, 2015. "The Biobank as Political Artifact," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 661(1), pages 143-159, September.
    17. Paula Braveman & Katherine Heck & Susan Egerter & Tyan Parker Dominguez & Christine Rinki & Kristen S Marchi & Michael Curtis, 2017. "Worry about racial discrimination: A missing piece of the puzzle of Black-White disparities in preterm birth?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, October.
    18. Mirna Safi & Patrick Simon, 2013. "Les discriminations ethniques et raciales dans l'enquête Trajectoires et Origines : représentations, expériences subjectives et situations vécues," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 464(1), pages 245-275.
    19. Currie, Cheryl L. & Wild, T. Cameron & Schopflocher, Donald P. & Laing, Lory & Veugelers, Paul, 2013. "Illicit and prescription drug problems among urban Aboriginal adults in Canada: The role of traditional culture in protection and resilience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-9.
    20. M. E. Hoeppli & H. Nahman-Averbuch & W. A. Hinkle & E. Leon & J. Peugh & M. Lopez-Sola & C. D. King & K. R. Goldschneider & R. C. Coghill, 2022. "Dissociation between individual differences in self-reported pain intensity and underlying fMRI brain activation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:67:y:2021:i:3:p:290-297. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.