The Cost of Color: Skin Color, Discrimination, and Health among African-Americans

What's Your "Street Race"? Leveraging Multidimensional Measures of Race and Intersectionality for Examining Physical and Mental Health Status Among Latinxs

Using the 2015 Latino National Health and Immigration Survey (N= 1,197) we examine the relationship between physical and mental health status and three multidimensional measures of race: 1) "street race," or how you believe other "Americans" perceive your race at the level of the street; 2) socially assigned race or what we call "ascribed race," which refers to how you believe others usually classify your race in the U.S.; and 3) "self-perceived race," or how you usually self-classify your race on questionnaires. We engage in intersectional inquiry by combining street race and gender. We find that only self-perceived race correlates with physical health and that street race is associated with mental health. We also find that men reporting their street race as Latinx1 or Arab were associated with higher odds of reporting worse mental health outcomes. One surprising finding was that, for physical health, men reporting their street race as Latinx were associated with higher odds of reporting optimal physical health. Among women, those reporting their street race as Mexican were associated with lower odds of reporting optimal physical health when compared to all other women; for mental health status, however, we found no differences among women. We argue that "street race" is a promising multidimensional measure of race for exploring inequality among Latinxs.

Personal-Level and Group-Level Discrimination and Mental Health: the Role of Skin Color

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates the association between personal-level and group-level discrimination and common mental disorders (CMDs) among Afro-Brazilian women, aiming to explore the role of skin color on this association.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study involving 1130 women who were participating in the Social Change, Asthma and Allergy in Latin America (SCAALA) study, whose children were recruited from 24 geographical micro-regions representative of the population without sanitation. Measures of discrimination were defined by: experiences (personal-level) and concern about discrimination (group-level) using the Experiences of Discrimination Scale. Skin color was registered by self-declaration, being classified as white, brown, and black. The association between "self-reported" discrimination and CMDs was evaluated using Poisson regression analysis.

RESULTS

Prevalence of CMDs was high (38.3%), especially in the group exposed to discriminatory experiences and black women. Experiences and concern about discrimination were positive and significantly associated with mental health, before and after adjustment for potential confounders. The effect of discrimination on CMDs was lower among black women, suggesting the development of other strategies to confront racism.

CONCLUSION

This study emphasizes the use of both personal- and group-level discrimination measures, as well as skin color, for the evaluation of mental disorders in public health research. Further studies of health consequences of discrimination will require investigation of protective factors for mental disorders in the population suffering discrimination and racism.

Darker Skin Tone Increases Perceived Discrimination among Male but Not Female Caribbean Black Youth

Background: Among most minority groups, males seem to report higher levels of exposure and vulnerability to racial discrimination. Although darker skin tone may increase exposure to racial discrimination, it is yet unknown whether skin tone similarly influences perceived discrimination among male and female Caribbean Black youth. Objective: The current cross-sectional study tests the role of gender on the effects of skin tone on perceived discrimination among Caribbean Black youth. Methods: Data came from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), 2003–2004, which included 360 Caribbean Black youth (ages 13 to 17). Demographic factors (age and gender), socioeconomic status (SES; family income, income to needs ratio, and subjective SES), skin tone, and perceived everyday discrimination were measured. Linear regressions were used for data analysis. Results: In the pooled sample, darker skin tone was associated with higher levels of perceived discrimination among Caribbean Black youth (b = 0.48; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.07–0.89). A significant interaction was found between gender and skin tone (b = 1.17; 95% CI = 0.49–1.86), suggesting a larger effect of skin tone on perceived discrimination for males than females. In stratified models, darker skin tone was associated with more perceived discrimination for males (b = 1.20; 95% CI = 0.69–0.72) but not females (b = 0.06; 95% CI = −0.42–0.55). Conclusion: Similar to the literature documenting male gender as a vulnerability factor to the effects of racial discrimination, we found that male but not female Caribbean Black youth with darker skin tones perceive more discrimination.

The prevalence of discrimination across racial groups in contemporary America: Results from a nationally representative sample of adults

A large body of social science research is devoted to understanding the causes and correlates of discrimination. Comparatively less effort has been aimed at providing a general prevalence estimate of discrimination using a nationally representative sample. The current study is intended to offer such an estimate using a large sample of American respondents (N = 14,793) while also exploring perceptions regarding why respondents felt they were discriminated against. The results provide a broad estimate of self-reported discrimination experiences-an event that was only reported by about one-quarter of all sample members-across racial and ethnic categories.

Microaggressions, Discrimination, and Phenotype among African Americans: A Latent Class Analysis of the Impact of Skin Tone and BMI

Data from the 2001-2003National Survey of American Life are used to investigate the effects of phenotype on everyday experiences with discrimination among African Americans (N=3343). Latent class analysis is used to identify four classes of discriminatory treatment: 1) low levels of discrimination, 2) disrespect and condescension, 3) character-based discrimination, and 4) high levels of discrimination. We then employ latent class multinomial logistic regression to evaluate the association between skin tone and body weight and these four classes of discrimination. Designating the low level discrimination class as the reference group, findings revealed that respondents with darker skin were more likely to be classified into the disrespect/condescension and the high level microaggression types. BMI was unrelated to the discrimination type, although there was a significant interaction effect between gender and BMI. BMI was strongly and positively associated with membership in the disrespect and condescension type among men but not among women. These findings indicate that skin tone and body weight are two phenotypic characteristics that influence the type and frequency of discrimination experienced by African Americans.

Self-identified race, socially assigned skin tone, and adult physiological dysregulation: Assessing multiple dimensions of "race" in health disparities research

Despite a general acceptance of “race” as a social, rather than biological construct in the social sciences, racial health disparities research has given less consideration to the dimensions of race that may be most important for shaping persistent disparities in adult physical health status. In this study, we incorporate the social constructionist view that race is multidimensional to evaluate the health significance of two measures of race, racial self-identification and the socially perceived skin tone of black Americans, in a sample of black and white adults in the Nashville Stress and Health Study (N=1186). First, we use the approach most common in disparities research—comparing group differences in an outcome—to consider self-identified racial differences in allostatic load (AL), a cumulative biological indicator of physical dysregulation. Second, we examine intragroup variations in AL among blacks by skin tone (i.e. light, brown, or dark skin). Third, we assess whether the magnitude of black-white disparities are equal across black skin tone subgroups. Consistent with prior research, we find significantly higher rates of dysregulation among blacks. However, our results also show that racial differences in AL vary by blacks’ skin tone; AL disparities are largest between whites and dark-skinned blacks and smallest between whites and light-skinned blacks. This study highlights the importance of blacks’ skin tone as a marker of socially-assigned race for shaping intragroup and intergroup variations in adult physiological dysregulation. These results demonstrate the importance of assessing multiple dimensions of race in disparities research, as this approach may better capture the various mechanisms by which “race” continues to shape health.

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Blacks have higher allostatic load (i.e. physiological dysregulation) than whites.

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Skin tone is a source of intragroup variation in allostatic load among blacks.

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Black-white differences in allostatic load vary by blacks’ perceived skin tone.

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Allostatic load disparity is smallest between whites and light-skinned blacks.

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Results show importance of self-identified and socially assigned race measures.

Identifying Systematic Disobedience in Milgram's Obedience Experiments: A Meta-Analytic Review

A meta-analysis of data from eight of Mil-gram's obedience experiments reveals previously undocumented systematicity in the behavior of disobedient participants. In all studies, disobedience was most likely at 150 v, the point at which the shocked "learner" first requested to be released. Further illustrating the importance of the 150-v point, obedience rates across studies covaried with rates of disobedience at 150 v, but not at any other point; as obedience decreased, disobedience at 150 v increased. In contrast, disobedience was not associated with the learner's escalating expressions of pain. This analysis identifies a critical decision point in the obedience paradigm and suggests that disobedient participants perceived the learner's right to terminate the experiment as overriding the experimenter's orders, a finding with potential implications for the treatment of prisoners.