title: Is discrimination an equal opportunity risk?: racial experiences, socioeconomic status, and health status among black and white adults.
abstract: Using the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we explore the relationship between racial awareness, perceived discrimination, and self-rated health among black (n = 5,902) and white (n = 28,451) adults. We find that adjusting for group differences in racial awareness and discrimination, in addition to socioeconomic status, explains the black-white gap in self-rated health. However, logistic regression models also find evidence for differential vulnerability among black and whites adults, based on socioeconomic status. While both groups are equally harmed by emotional and/or physical reactions to race-based treatment, the negative consequences of discriminatory experiences for black adults are exacerbated by their poorer socioeconomic standing. In contrast, the association between racial awareness and self-rated health is more sensitive to socioeconomic standing among whites. Poorer health is more likely to occur among whites when they reflect at least daily on their own racial status-but only when it happens in tandem with mid-range educational achievement, or among homemakers.
authors: Rice University, Houston, TX, USA. jbratter@rice.edu
authors: Jenifer L
authors: JL
authors: Bratter
authors: Bridget K
authors: BK
authors: Gorman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D011287:Prejudice; D012306:Risk; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*