IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i1p21582440231153849.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceived Racism and Health Among Black Americans: The Role of Racial Identity as a Moderator Over Time

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Daniel Tavares

Abstract

Perceived racism is an important health stressor, but few studies explore resources that moderate the association between perceived racism and health over time. Most previous research models racial identity as a main effect and its moderating potential remains unclear. In this study, I use the Stress Process Model to test whether racial identity moderates the association between perceived racism and changes in self-rated health among Black Americans. Data from the American Changing Lives study are used to test this research question ( n  = 388). Strength of racial identity moderates the association between perceived racism and changes in self-rated health. A strong racial identity buffers the relationship between perceived racism and health for low levels of racism. However, a strong racial identity exacerbates this association for those experiencing high levels of racism. These findings suggest that racial identity may be a protective factor, but it does not buffer against chronic exposure to racism. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting that whether racial identity is health-protective against perceived racism depends on the level of perceived racism Black Americans experience. Future studies should continue investigating the conditions under which racial identity buffers the perceived racism-health association.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Daniel Tavares, 2023. "Perceived Racism and Health Among Black Americans: The Role of Racial Identity as a Moderator Over Time," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:21582440231153849
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231153849
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231153849
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231153849?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. Tyson H Brown PhD & Taylor W Hargrove PhD, 2018. "Psychosocial Mechanisms Underlying Older Black Men’s Health," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(2), pages 188-197.
    2. Schulz, A.J. & Gravlee, C.C. & Williams, D.R. & Israel, B.A. & Mentz, G. & Rowe, Z., 2006. "Discrimination, symptoms of depression, and self-rated health among African American women in Detroit: Results from a longitudinal analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(7), pages 1265-1270.
    3. Fang, J. & Alderman, M.H., 2004. "Does Supplemental Private Insurance Affect Care of Medicare Recipients Hospitalized for Myocardial Infarction?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(5), pages 778-782.
    4. Colen, Cynthia G. & Ramey, David M. & Cooksey, Elizabeth C. & Williams, David R., 2018. "Racial disparities in health among nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The role of acute and chronic discrimination," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 167-180.
    5. Monk, Ellis P., 2020. "Linked fate and mental health among African Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    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. Myles D. Moody, 2022. "Vicarious Experiences of Major Discrimination and the Life Satisfaction of Black and White Adults from a Community Sample," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2725-2743, August.
    2. Darrell Hudson & Tina Sacks & Katie Irani & Antonia Asher, 2020. "The Price of the Ticket: Health Costs of Upward Mobility among African Americans," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Christy L. Erving, 2024. "Stress Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease Risk among US Black Women: Ethnicity and Nativity Intersections," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-29, June.
    4. Dušan Drbohlav & Dagmar Dzúrová, 2017. "Social Hazards as Manifested Workplace Discrimination and Health (Vietnamese and Ukrainian Female and Male Migrants in Czechia)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Thayer, Zaneta M. & Kuzawa, Christopher W., 2015. "Ethnic discrimination predicts poor self-rated health and cortisol in pregnancy: Insights from New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 36-42.
    6. Shervin Assari & Susan D. Cochran & Vickie M. Mays, 2021. "Money Protects White but Not African American Men against Discrimination: Comparison of African American and White Men in the Same Geographic Areas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-12, March.
    7. Chen, Shanting & Mallory, Allen B., 2021. "The effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health: A propensity score weighting approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    8. Rubin, Sara & Zimmer, Zachary, 2015. "Pain and self-assessed health: Does the association vary by age?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 259-267.
    9. Luca Fumarco & Benjamin Harrell & Patrick Button & David Schwegman & E Dils, 2020. "Gender Identity, Race, and Ethnicity-based Discrimination in Access to Mental Health Care: Evidence from an Audit Correspondence Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 28164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Chae, David H. & Lincoln, Karen D. & Adler, Nancy E. & Syme, S. Leonard, 2010. "Do experiences of racial discrimination predict cardiovascular disease among African American men? The moderating role of internalized negative racial group attitudes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(6), pages 1182-1188, September.
    11. Harvey L. Nicholson Jr., 2023. "“I am African American†: Racial-ethnic self-designation, self-concept, and major depression among African Americans," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(3), pages 551-558, May.
    12. Erin Pullen & Carrie Oser, 2017. "Disadvantaged Status and Health Matters Networks among Low-Income African American Women," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Miller, Carol T. & Solomon, Sondra E. & Varni, Susan E. & Hodge, James J. & Knapp, F. Andrew & Bunn, Janice Y., 2016. "A transactional approach to relationships over time between perceived HIV stigma and the psychological and physical well-being of people with HIV," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 97-105.
    14. Hunter, Bronwyn A. & Mohatt, Nathaniel Vincent & Prince, Dana M. & Thompson, Azure B. & Matlin, Samantha L. & Tebes, Jacob Kraemer, 2017. "Socio-psychological mediators of the relationship between behavioral health stigma and psychiatric symptoms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 177-183.
    15. Meir Russ, 2017. "The Trifurcation of the Labor Markets in the Networked, Knowledge-Driven, Global Economy," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(2), pages 672-703, June.
    16. Shakked Lubotzky-Gete & Maru Gete & Roni Levy & Yaffa Kurzweil & Ronit Calderon-Margalit, 2021. "Comparing the Different Manifestations of Postpartum Mental Disorders by Origin, among Immigrants and Native-Born in Israel According to Different Mental Scales," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, November.
    17. Dogan, Eyup & Madaleno, Mara & Inglesi-Lotz, Roula & Taskin, Dilvin, 2022. "Race and energy poverty: Evidence from African-American households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    18. Chen, Danhong & Yang, Tse-Chuan, 2014. "The pathways from perceived discrimination to self-rated health: An investigation of the roles of distrust, social capital, and health behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 64-73.
    19. Van M. Ta Park & Marcelle M. Dougan & Oanh L. Meyer & Bora Nam & Marian Tzuang & Linda G. Park & Quyen Vuong & Joon Bang & Janice Y. Tsoh, 2022. "Discrimination Experiences during COVID-19 among a National, Multi-Lingual, Community-Based Sample of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: COMPASS Findings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-16, January.
    20. Reid, Allecia E. & Rosenthal, Lisa & Earnshaw, Valerie A. & Lewis, Tené T. & Lewis, Jessica B. & Stasko, Emily C. & Tobin, Jonathan N. & Ickovics, Jeannette R., 2016. "Discrimination and excessive weight gain during pregnancy among Black and Latina young women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 134-141.

    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:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:21582440231153849. 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.