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. 2018 Feb:199:167-180.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.04.051. Epub 2017 May 6.

Racial disparities in health among nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The role of acute and chronic discrimination

Cynthia G Colen  1 , David M Ramey  2 , Elizabeth C Cooksey  3 , David R Williams  4
Affiliations

Racial disparities in health among nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The role of acute and chronic discrimination

Cynthia G Colen et al. Soc Sci Med. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Racial disparities in health tend to be more pronounced at the upper ends of the socioeconomic (SES) spectrum. Despite having access to above average social and economic resources, nonpoor African Americans and Latinos report significantly worse health compared to nonpoor Whites. We combine data from the parents and children of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) to address two specific research aims. First, we generate longitudinal SES trajectories over a 33-year period to estimate the extent to which socioeconomic mobility is associated with exposure to discrimination (acute and chronic) across different racial/ethnic groups (nonHispanic Whites, nonHispanic Blacks, and Hispanics). Then we determine if the disparate relationship between SES and self-rated health across these groups can be accounted for by more frequent exposure to unfair treatment. For Whites, moderate income gains over time result in significantly less exposure to both acute and chronic discrimination. Upwardly mobile African Americans and Hispanics, however, were significantly more likely to experience acute and chronic discrimination, respectively, than their socioeconomically stable counterparts. We also find that differential exposure to unfair treatment explains a substantial proportion of the Black/White, but not the Hispanic/White, gap in self-rated health among this nationally representative sample of upwardly mobile young adults. The current study adds to the debate that the shape of the SES/health gradient differs, in important ways, across race and provides empirical support for the diminishing health returns hypothesis for racial/ethnic minorities.

Keywords: African Americans; Discrimination; Hispanics; Lifecourse SES; Racial disparities; Self-rated health.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Mean Acute Discrimination Scores by Race & Income Trajectory
Note: Acute discrimination scores can range from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Mean Chronic Discrimination Scores by Race & Income Trajectory
Note: Chronic discrimination scores can range from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 45.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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