Health pessimism among black and white adults: the role of interpersonal and institutional maltreatment.
Using data from the 1995 Detroit Area Study (N=1106) this paper finds that black adults report significantly worse self-rated health when compared to whites with similar levels of self-reported morbidity. This relationship, called health pessimism, persists despite statistical controls for age, gender, socioeconomic status, health care access, and health related behaviors. Interpersonal maltreatment is found to be positively associated with health pessimism and more importantly, when comparing adults who perceive similar levels of maltreatment, white and black adults do not differ with respect to health pessimism. This suggests that the increased risk of health pessimism among black adults is due in part to race differences in the perception of interpersonal maltreatment.
Department of Sociology, Population Program, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, 219 Ketchum Hall, 327 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0327, USA. boardman@colorado.edu
Jason D
JD
Boardman
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D004651:Employment; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D016495:Police; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*