Open AccessRacial/Ethnic Discrimination and Health: Findings From Community Studies
Author(s) -
David R. Williams,
Harold W. Neighbors,
James S. Jackson
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.98.supplement_1.s29
Subject(s) - ethnic group , extant taxon , mental health , health equity , association (psychology) , racism , ethnic discrimination , psychology , population , public health , disease , empirical research , gerontology , clinical psychology , medicine , environmental health , psychiatry , political science , pathology , evolutionary biology , psychotherapist , biology , philosophy , epistemology , law
The authors review the available empirical evidence from population-based studies of the association between perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination and health. This research indicates that discrimination is associated with multiple indicators of poorer physical and, especially, mental health status. However, the extant research does not adequately address whether and how exposure to discrimination leads to increased risk of disease. Gaps in the literature include limitations linked to measurement of discrimination, research designs, and inattention to the way in which the association between discrimination and health unfolds over the life course. Research on stress points to important directions for the future assessment of discrimination and the testing of the underlying processes and mechanisms by which discrimination can lead to changes in health.