Relationship between socio-linguistic factors and symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychosis in the general population

Introduction: Over the last decade, and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological distress has increased significantly in the general population, with a particularly strong impact on young people. This situation has intensified interest in identifying risk and protective factors associated with mental health. Within this framework, the present study aimed to analyze the relationship between sociodemographic and linguistic variables and different indicators of mental health in a bilingual population from the Basque Country. Methods: A total of 521 bilingual individuals (Basque/Spanish) from the general population participated in the study. Participants completed validated questionnaires assessing anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), and prodromal psychotic symptoms (PQ-B), along with a sociodemographic questionnaire and a measure of linguistic competence. Univariate analyses and linear regression models were conducted to examine associations between mental health indicators and sociodemographic variables (age, gender, educational level, employment status, marital status, and offspring), as well as linguistic variables (self-perceived proficiency in local languages and foreign language certification). Results: The results indicate that higher educational attainment is consistently associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms and prodromal psychotic symptoms. Additionally, better self-perceived competence in the usual languages of communication (Basque and Spanish) is related to lower scores on prodromal psychotic symptoms. Having children is associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. In contrast, variables such as gender, marital status, and employment status did not show significant associations with mental health indicators in this predominantly young sample. Discussion: Overall, these findings highlight the relevance of educational level and sociolinguistic context as important factors in mental health. They underscore the need to incorporate educational and linguistic dimensions into the design of prevention and intervention strategies, particularly those targeting young populations in bilingual and multilingual contexts.