IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v104y2014icp64-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The pathways from perceived discrimination to self-rated health: An investigation of the roles of distrust, social capital, and health behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Danhong
  • Yang, Tse-Chuan

Abstract

Although there has been extensive research on the adverse impacts of perceived discrimination on health, it remains unclear how perceived discrimination gets under the skin. This paper develops a comprehensive structural equation model (SEM) by incorporating both the direct effects of perceived discrimination on self-rated health (SRH), a powerful predictor for many health outcomes, and the indirect effects of perceived discrimination on SRH through health care system distrust, neighborhood social capital, and health behaviors and health conditions. Applying SEM to 9880 adults (aged between 18 and 100) in the 2008 Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey, we not only confirmed the positive and direct association between discrimination and poor or fair SRH, but also verified two underlying mechanisms: 1) perceived discrimination is associated with lower neighborhood social capital, which further contributes to poor or fair SRH; and 2) perceived discrimination is related to risky behaviors (e.g., reduced physical activity and sleep quality, and intensified smoking) that lead to worse health conditions, and then result in poor or fair SRH. Moreover, we found that perceived discrimination is negatively associated with health care system distrust, but did not find a significant relationship between distrust and poor or fair SRH.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Danhong & Yang, Tse-Chuan, 2014. "The pathways from perceived discrimination to self-rated health: An investigation of the roles of distrust, social capital, and health behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 64-73.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:104:y:2014:i:c:p:64-73
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.12.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613007132
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.12.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Williams, D.R. & Neighbors, H.W. & Jackson, J.S., 2003. "Racial/ethnic discrimination and health: Findings from community studies," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(2), pages 200-208.
    2. Chae, D.H. & Walters, K.L., 2009. "Racial discrimination and racial identity attitudes in relation to self-rated health and physical pain and impairment among two-spirit American Indians/Alaska Natives," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(S1), pages 144-151.
    3. S. Melinda Spencer & Richard Schulz & Ronica N. Rooks & Steven M. Albert & Roland J. Thorpe & Gretchen A. Brenes & Tamara B. Harris & Annemarie Koster & Suzanne Satterfield & Hilsa N. Ayonayon & Anne , 2009. "Racial Differences in Self-Rated Health at Similar Levels of Physical Functioning: An Examination of Health Pessimism in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(1), pages 87-94.
    4. Folland, Sherman, 2007. "Does "community social capital" contribute to population health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(11), pages 2342-2354, June.
    5. Musa, D. & Schulz, R. & Harris, R. & Silverman, M. & Thomas, S.B., 2009. "Trust in the health care system and the use of preventive health services by older black and white adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(7), pages 1293-1299.
    6. Jylhä, Marja, 2009. "What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 307-316, August.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September.
    8. Borrell, Luisa N. & Kiefe, Catarina I. & Williams, David R. & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Gordon-Larsen, Penny, 2006. "Self-reported health, perceived racial discrimination, and skin color in African Americans in the CARDIA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1415-1427, September.
    9. Boardman, Jason D., 2004. "Health pessimism among black and white adults: the role of interpersonal and institutional maltreatment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(12), pages 2523-2533, December.
    10. Manderbacka, Kristiina & Lundberg, Olle & Martikainen, Pekka, 1999. "Do risk factors and health behaviours contribute to self-ratings of health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(12), pages 1713-1720, June.
    11. Tarja Nieminen & Tuija Martelin & Seppo Koskinen & Hillevi Aro & Erkki Alanen & Markku Hyyppä, 2010. "Social capital as a determinant of self-rated health and psychological well-being," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(6), pages 531-542, December.
    12. Schulz, A.J. & Gravlee, C.C. & Williams, D.R. & Israel, B.A. & Mentz, G. & Rowe, Z., 2006. "Discrimination, symptoms of depression, and self-rated health among African American women in Detroit: Results from a longitudinal analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(7), pages 1265-1270.
    13. Acevedo-Garcia, D. & Rosenfeld, L.E. & Hardy, E. & McArdle, N. & Osypuk, T.L., 2013. "Future directions in research on institutional and interpersonal discrimination and children's health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(10), pages 1754-1763.
    14. Krieger, Nancy & Smith, Kevin & Naishadham, Deepa & Hartman, Cathy & Barbeau, Elizabeth M., 2005. "Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1576-1596, October.
    15. Gee, G.C., 2002. "A multilevel analysis of the relationship between institutional and individual racial discrimination and health status," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(4), pages 615-623.
    16. Krieger, N. & Kosheleva, A. & Waterman, P.D. & Chen, J.T. & Koenen, K., 2011. "Racial discrimination, psychological distress, and self-rated health among US-born and foreign-born black Americans," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(9), pages 1704-1713.
    17. Mohseni, Mohabbat & Lindstrom, Martin, 2007. "Social capital, trust in the health-care system and self-rated health: The role of access to health care in a population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 1373-1383, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tila Robinson & Noelle Robertson & Ffion Curtis & Natalie Darko & Ceri R. Jones, 2022. "Examining Psychosocial and Economic Barriers to Green Space Access for Racialised Individuals and Families: A Narrative Literature Review of the Evidence to Date," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-28, December.
    2. Sabina Albrecht & David Smerdon, 2022. "The social capital effects of refugee resettlement on host communities," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(320), pages 80-112, March.
    3. Yang, Tse-Chuan & Chen, I-Chien & Choi, Seung-won & Kurtulus, Aysenur, 2019. "Linking perceived discrimination during adolescence to health during mid-adulthood: Self-esteem and risk-behavior mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 434-443.
    4. Kellogg, Alexander J. & Hancock, David W. & Cho, Grace Y. & Reid, Allecia E., 2023. "Community-level age bias and older adult mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    5. Tsuboya, Toru & Tsutsumi, Akizumi & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2016. "Null association between workplace social capital and body mass index. Results from a four-wave panel survey among employees in Japan (J-HOPE study)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 1-7.
    6. Joseph Gibbons, 2021. "Distancing the socially distanced: Racial/ethnic composition’s association with physical distancing in response to COVID-19 in the U.S," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-21, May.
    7. Kellogg, Alexander J. & Hancock, David W. & Cho, Grace Y. & Reid, Allecia E., 2023. "Reprint of: Community-level age bias and older adult mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    8. Xiangdan Piao & Xinxin Ma & Tetsuya Tsurumi & Shunsuke Managi, 2022. "Social Capital, Negative Event, Life Satisfaction and Sustainable Community: Evidence from 37 Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1311-1330, June.
    9. Hisler, Garrett C. & Brenner, Rachel E., 2019. "Does sleep partially mediate the effect of everyday discrimination on future mental and physical health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 115-123.
    10. Alexander, Adam C. & Nollen, Nicole L. & Ahluwalia, Jasjit S. & Hébert, Emily T. & Businelle, Michael S. & Kendzor, Darla E., 2019. "Darker skin color is associated with a lower likelihood of smoking cessation among males but not females," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    11. Plascak, Jesse J. & Molina, Yamile & Wu-Georges, Samantha & Idris, Ayah & Thompson, Beti, 2016. "Latino residential segregation and self-rated health among Latinos: Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2012–2014," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 38-47.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colen, Cynthia G. & Ramey, David M. & Cooksey, Elizabeth C. & Williams, David R., 2018. "Racial disparities in health among nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The role of acute and chronic discrimination," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 167-180.
    2. Gee, Gilbert C. & Spencer, Michael & Chen, Juan & Yip, Tiffany & Takeuchi, David T., 2007. "The association between self-reported racial discrimination and 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders among Asian Americans nationwide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1984-1996, May.
    3. Kelaher, M. & Paul, Sheila & Lambert, Helen & Ahmad, Waqar & Paradies, Yin & Davey Smith, George, 2008. "Discrimination and health in an English study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1627-1636, April.
    4. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2012. "Discrimination makes me sick! An examination of the discrimination–health relationship," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 99-111.
    5. Gee, Gilbert & Walsemann, Katrina, 2009. "Does health predict the reporting of racial discrimination or do reports of discrimination predict health? Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1676-1684, May.
    6. Yang, Tse-Chuan & Chen, I-Chien & Choi, Seung-won & Kurtulus, Aysenur, 2019. "Linking perceived discrimination during adolescence to health during mid-adulthood: Self-esteem and risk-behavior mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 434-443.
    7. Yoo, Hyung Chol & Gee, Gilbert C. & Takeuchi, David, 2009. "Discrimination and health among Asian American immigrants: Disentangling racial from language discrimination," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 726-732, February.
    8. Roth, David L. & Skarupski, Kimberly A. & Crews, Deidra C. & Howard, Virginia J. & Locher, Julie L., 2016. "Distinct age and self-rated health crossover mortality effects for African Americans: Evidence from a national cohort study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 12-20.
    9. Hudson, Darrell L. & Puterman, Eli & Bibbins-Domingo, Kirsten & Matthews, Karen A. & Adler, Nancy E., 2013. "Race, life course socioeconomic position, racial discrimination, depressive symptoms and self-rated health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 7-14.
    10. Harris, Ricci & Tobias, Martin & Jeffreys, Mona & Waldegrave, Kiri & Karlsen, Saffron & Nazroo, James, 2006. "Racism and health: The relationship between experience of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1428-1441, September.
    11. Sophie Le Cœur & Aline Desesquelles & Elisabeth Morand & Cheeraya Kanabkaew & Éva Lelièvre, 2017. "Self-rated Health among HIV-infected People Receiving Treatments in Thailand," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Liat Ayalon, 2018. "Perceived Age Discrimination: A Precipitator or a Consequence of Depressive Symptoms?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(5), pages 860-869.
    13. Gaeul Kim & Jinmok Kim & Su-Kyoung Lee & Juho Sim & Yangwook Kim & Byung-Yoon Yun & Jin-Ha Yoon, 2020. "Multidimensional gender discrimination in workplace and depressive symptoms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    14. McNeill, Lorna Haughton & Kreuter, Matthew W. & Subramanian, S.V., 2006. "Social Environment and Physical activity: A review of concepts and evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 1011-1022, August.
    15. Dušan Drbohlav & Dagmar Dzúrová, 2017. "Social Hazards as Manifested Workplace Discrimination and Health (Vietnamese and Ukrainian Female and Male Migrants in Czechia)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, October.
    16. Mieko Yoshihama & Jun Sung Hong & Yueqi Yan, 2022. "Everyday Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms among Gujarati Adults: Gender Difference in the Role of Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    17. Nancy Krieger & Pamela D Waterman & Anna Kosheleva & Jarvis T Chen & Dana R Carney & Kevin W Smith & Gary G Bennett & David R Williams & Elmer Freeman & Beverley Russell & Gisele Thornhill & Kristin M, 2011. "Exposing Racial Discrimination: Implicit & Explicit Measures–The My Body, My Story Study of 1005 US-Born Black & White Community Health Center Members," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-24, November.
    18. Shoff, Carla & Yang, Tse-Chuan, 2012. "Untangling the associations among distrust, race, and neighborhood social environment: A social disorganization perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1342-1352.
    19. Randall Akee & Mutlu Yuksel, 2012. "The Decreasing Effect of Skin Tone on Women's Full-Time Employment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 398-426, April.
    20. Rubin, Sara & Zimmer, Zachary, 2015. "Pain and self-assessed health: Does the association vary by age?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 259-267.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:104:y:2014:i:c:p:64-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.