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The Psychological Cost of Racial Discrimination: What is the Role of Residential Segregation?
Author(s) -
Woo Bongki,
Fan Wen,
Tran Thanh,
Takeuchi David
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1002/ajcp.12371
Subject(s) - health psychology , index of dissimilarity , psychology , racism , harm , immigration , odds , metropolitan area , logistic regression , mental health , demography , gerontology , public health , social psychology , medicine , geography , sociology , psychiatry , gender studies , nursing , archaeology , pathology , economics , economic growth
Racial discrimination is known to harm health, but to what extent the health burden of racial discrimination is contingent on residential contexts is understudied. This study examines the moderating role of racial residential segregation in the relationship between racial discrimination and psychological distress. Nationally representative data from the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study were merged with metropolitan‐level data from the U.S. Census. Logistic regression models were used to test the independent and joint contributions of racial discrimination and residential segregation to psychological distress among Asians and Latinxs, stratified by nativity status. Higher residential segregation (measured by the interaction index) is associated with lower odds of distress among U.S.‐born Asians but not among other groups. As for the moderating effect, residential segregation exacerbates the positive association between discrimination and distress among foreign‐born Asians (measured by the dissimilarity index) and foreign‐born Latinxs (measured by the interaction index), but not among their respective U.S.‐born counterparts. Taken together, the present study highlights that strategies to mitigate the psychological burden of racial discrimination need to move beyond individual‐level efforts to incorporate neighborhood‐based approaches. In particular, results provide empirical support for efforts to reduce residential segregation, particularly among immigrants who are discriminated against.