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Investigating the Relationship between Ethnic Consciousness, Racial Discrimination and Self-Rated Health in New Zealand

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  • Ricci Harris
  • Donna Cormack
  • James Stanley
  • Ruruhira Rameka

Abstract

In this study, we examine race/ethnic consciousness and its associations with experiences of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand. Racism is an important determinant of health and cause of ethnic inequities. However, conceptualising the mechanisms by which racism impacts on health requires racism to be contextualised within the broader social environment. Race/ethnic consciousness (how often people think about their race or ethnicity) is understood as part of a broader assessment of the ‘racial climate’. Higher race/ethnic consciousness has been demonstrated among non-dominant racial/ethnic groups and linked to adverse health outcomes in a limited number of studies. We analysed data from the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey, a national population-based survey of New Zealand adults, to examine the distribution of ethnic consciousness by ethnicity, and its association with individual experiences of racial discrimination and self-rated health. Findings showed that European respondents were least likely to report thinking about their ethnicity, with people from non-European ethnic groupings all reporting relatively higher ethnic consciousness. Higher ethnic consciousness was associated with an increased likelihood of reporting experience of racial discrimination for all ethnic groupings and was also associated with fair/poor self-rated health after adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity. However, this difference in health was no longer evident after further adjustment for socioeconomic position and individual experience of racial discrimination. Our study suggests different experiences of racialised social environments by ethnicity in New Zealand and that, at an individual level, ethnic consciousness is related to experiences of racial discrimination. However, the relationship with health is less clear and needs further investigation with research to better understand the racialised social relations that create and maintain ethnic inequities in health in attempts to better address the impacts of racism on health.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricci Harris & Donna Cormack & James Stanley & Ruruhira Rameka, 2015. "Investigating the Relationship between Ethnic Consciousness, Racial Discrimination and Self-Rated Health in New Zealand," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0117343
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117343
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Scott, Kate M. & Sarfati, Diana & Tobias, Martin I. & Haslett, Stephen J., 2000. "A challenge to the cross-cultural validity of the SF-36 health survey: factor structure in Maori, Pacific and New Zealand European ethnic groups," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(11), pages 1655-1664, December.
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    3. Harris, Ricci & Cormack, Donna & Tobias, Martin & Yeh, Li-Chia & Talamaivao, Natalie & Minster, Joanna & Timutimu, Roimata, 2012. "The pervasive effects of racism: Experiences of racial discrimination in New Zealand over time and associations with multiple health domains," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 408-415.
    4. Harris, R. & Cormack, D. & Tobias, M. & Yeh, L.-C. & Talamaivao, N. & Minster, J. & Timutimu, R., 2012. "Self-reported experience of racial discrimination and health care use in New Zealand: Results from the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1012-1019.
    5. Donna M Cormack & Ricci B Harris & James Stanley, 2013. "Investigating the Relationship between Socially-Assigned Ethnicity, Racial Discrimination and Health Advantage in New Zealand," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Bécares, Laia & Cormack, Donna & Harris, Ricci, 2013. "Ethnic density and area deprivation: Neighbourhood effects on Māori health and racial discrimination in Aotearoa/New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 76-82.
    7. Krieger, N., 2012. "Methods for the scientific study of discrimination and health: An ecosocial approach," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(5), pages 936-945.
    8. Hausmann, L.R. & Jeong, K. & Bost, J.E. & Kressin, N.R. & Ibrahim, S.A., 2009. "Perceived racial discrimination in health care: a comparison of Veterans Affairs and other patients," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99, pages 718-724.
    9. Harris, Ricci & Tobias, Martin & Jeffreys, Mona & Waldegrave, Kiri & Karlsen, Saffron & Nazroo, James, 2006. "Racism and health: The relationship between experience of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1428-1441, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. M. Anne George & Cherylynn Bassani, 2018. "Influence of Perceived Racial Discrimination on the Health of Immigrant Children in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 527-540, August.
    2. Darlington-Pollock, Frances & Norman, Paul & Lee, Arier C. & Grey, Corina & Mehta, Suneela & Exeter, Daniel J., 2016. "To move or not to move? Exploring the relationship between residential mobility, risk of cardiovascular disease and ethnicity in New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 128-140.
    3. Cha-Nam Shin & Erica Soltero & Scherezade K. Mama & Christopher Sunseri & Rebecca E. Lee, 2017. "Association of Discrimination and Stress With Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Ethnic Minority Women," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 26(6), pages 694-712, December.

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