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. Noreen Goldman & Dana A. Glei & Maxine Weinstein, 2017. "The Best Predictors of Survival: Do They Vary by Age, Sex, and Race?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 43(3), pages 541-560, September.
    2. 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.
    3. Monk, Ellis P., 2020. "Linked fate and mental health among African Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    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. Gaeul Kim & Jinmok Kim & Su-Kyoung Lee & Juho Sim & Yangwook Kim & Byung-Yoon Yun & Jin-Ha Yoon, 2020. "Multidimensional gender discrimination in workplace and depressive symptoms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Glei, Dana A. & Weinstein, Maxine, 2023. "Economic distress, obesity, and the rise in pain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Wolf, Jennifer Price & Freisthler, Bridget & McCarthy, Karla Shockley, 2021. "Parenting in poor health: Examining associations between parental health, prescription drug use, and child maltreatment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    8. Mieko Yoshihama & Jun Sung Hong & Yueqi Yan, 2022. "Everyday Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms among Gujarati Adults: Gender Difference in the Role of Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Andrasfay, Theresa & Goldman, Noreen, 2020. "Physical functioning and survival: Is the link weaker among Latino and black older adults?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    13. 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).
    14. 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.
    15. Williams, David R. & Gonzalez, Hector M. & Williams, Stacey & Mohammed, Selina A. & Moomal, Hashim & Stein, Dan J., 2008. "Perceived discrimination, race and health in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 441-452, August.
    16. Kirksey, Kristen, 2021. "A social history of racial disparities in breastfeeding in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    17. Lindström, Martin, 2008. "Social capital, anticipated ethnic discrimination and self-reported psychological health: A population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 1-13, January.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    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.