Perceived racial discrimination and healthy behavior among African Americans

Abstract

Objective: Numerous studies have found evidence of a link between perceived discrimination and unhealthy behavior, especially substance use. Within this body of literature, however, several studies have found unexpected evidence of a positive relation between perceived racial discrimination among African Americans-mostly women-and certain types of healthy behavior, primarily exercise and healthy eating. The current study further examined this positive relation, including an anticipated moderator: optimism. It also examined the relation between perceived racial discrimination and a correlate of unhealthy behavior: BMI.

Method: Six waves of data were collected over 14 years in three related samples of African Americans from families participating in the Family and Community Health Study. Each family included an adolescent (Mage = 10.5 at Wave 1), the adolescent's primary caregiver (Mage = 37), and, in some cases, an older sibling of that adolescent (Mage = 13). Wave 1 Ns were 889, 889, and 295, respectively. Healthy behavior was defined as diet and exercise.

Results: There was very little evidence of a long-term relation between perceived racial discrimination and BMI in any sample, and no evidence of a relation between discrimination and healthy behavior among the males. However, correlational analyses revealed a positive prospective relation between discrimination and healthy behavior among all three groups of females; structural equation modeling indicated that this relation was stronger among women who were high in optimism.

Conclusions: Perceived racial discrimination does not appear to be related to BMI among African Americans, but it is related to healthy behavior among Black females who are high in dispositional optimism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1:

SEM: Moderation of PRD Effects on Healthy Behavior by Optimism for Female Targets Note. All coefficients are standardized. PRD = Perceived Racial Discrimination, HB = Healthy Behavior, OPT = Optimism, OPT X PRD = the interaction of PRD and OPT * p < .05; ** p < .01.

Figure 2:

SEM: Moderation of PRD Effects on Healthy Behavior by Optimism for Female PCs Note. All coefficients are standardized. PRD = Perceived Racial Discrimination, HB = Healthy Behavior, OPT = Optimism, OPT X PRD = the interaction of PRD and OPT ^† p < .08; * p < .05 ; ** p < .01.