title: Beyond Race/Ethnicity: Skin Color and Cardiometabolic Health Among Blacks and Hispanics in the United States.
abstract: We investigated whether darker interviewer-ascribed skin color is associated with worse cardiometabolic health among young adult Blacks and Hispanics in the United States. Our sample was comprised of 2,128 non-Hispanic Blacks and 1603 Hispanics aged 24-32, who were in high school in the United States in 1994. We used logistic and OLS regression to predict obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiometabolic risk. We tested the interaction between Hispanic immigrant generation and ascribed skin color. Darker ascribed skin color predicted worse cardiometabolic health among both young adult Blacks and Hispanics. Among Hispanics, the associations were strongest among third and higher generation respondents. Our findings suggest that among US Blacks and Hispanics how individuals are perceived by others via their skin color is significantly associated with their health and well-being. Gradients in cardiometabolic health in young adulthood will likely contribute to gradients in cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality later in life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.|Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9540-976X
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wassink
authors.affiliation: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA. perreira@email.unc.edu.|Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA. perreira@email.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Krista M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Perreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.|Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology; D044469:Racial Groups; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012880:Skin Pigmentation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin
keywords: Black; Cardiometabolic health; Hispanic/Latino; Race/ethnicity; Skin color/tone