IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v66y2008i7p1627-1636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discrimination and health in an English study

Author

Listed:
  • Kelaher, M.
  • Paul, Sheila
  • Lambert, Helen
  • Ahmad, Waqar
  • Paradies, Yin
  • Davey Smith, George

Abstract

In this study we examine the relationship between education, racial discrimination and health among white (n = 227), African Caribbean (n = 213) and Indian and Pakistani (n = 233) adults aged between 18 and 59 years living in Leeds, England, as measured in a stratified population survey. Measures of discrimination included any physical attack, verbal abuse and a combined variable, any discrimination due to race, colour, ethnicity or sex. Analyses were conducted examining the relationship between education and discrimination, discrimination and health, and discrimination and health controlling for education. People educated above secondary level were more likely than people educated to secondary level or below to report being physically attacked, verbally abused and exposed to discrimination. People from minority ethnic groups (African Caribbean and Indian Pakistani) were more likely to be verbally abused and exposed to discrimination than the white group. Ethnicity and education interacted for African Caribbeans, such that respondents with post-school qualifications were more likely to report verbal abuse or any discrimination. There was no association between having been exposed to any kind of discrimination and having fair or poor health. Physical attack and any discrimination were associated with anxiety, worry and depression. The results remained unchanged when ethnicity and education were included in the models. Education and ethnicity were associated with differences in exposure to discrimination. In turn, exposure to discrimination was associated with higher levels of anxiety, worry or depression although there was no association between discrimination and health. The results support the contention that racial discrimination may play an important role in modifying the relationship between ethnicity, socioeconomic position and health. The counter-intuitive relationship between education and levels of reported discrimination in non-minority ethnic groups highlights the value of explicitly modeling discrimination to gain a better understanding of the social determinants of health.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:7:p:1627-1636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(07)00656-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Krieger, N. & Sidney, S., 1996. "Racial discrimination and blood pressure: The CARDIA study of young black and white adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(10), pages 1370-1378.
    5. Bhui, K. & Stansfeld, S. & McKenzie, K. & Karlsen, S. & Nazroo, J. & Weich, S., 2005. "Racial/ethnic discrimination and common mental disorders among workers: Findings from the EMPIRIC study of ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(3), pages 496-501.
    6. 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.
    7. Aggrey W. Burke, 1984. "Racism and Psychological Disturbance Among West Indians in Britain," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 30(1-2), pages 50-68, March.
    8. Kahn, J., 2006. "Genes, race, and population: Avoiding a collision of categories," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(11), pages 1965-1970.
    9. Gee, G.C. & Spencer, M.S. & Chen, J. & Takeuchi, D., 2007. "A nationwide study of discrimination and chronic health conditions among Asian Americans," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(7), pages 1275-1282.
    10. Smith, G.D., 2000. "Learning to live with complexity: Ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and health in Britain and the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(11), pages 1694-1698.
    11. Nazroo, J.Y., 2003. "The structuring of ethnic inequalities in health: Economic position, racial discrimination, and racism," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(2), pages 277-284.
    12. Gee, G.C. & Ryan, A. & Laflamme, D.J. & Holt, J., 2006. "Self reported discrimination and mental health status among African descendants, Mexican Americans, and other Latinos in the New Hampshire REACH 2010 Initiative: The added dimension of immigration," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(10), pages 1821-1828.
    13. Frank, Reanne, 2007. "What to make of it? The (Re)emergence of a biological conceptualization of race in health disparities research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1977-1983, May.
    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. 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.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Chae, David H. & Lincoln, Karen D. & Adler, Nancy E. & Syme, S. Leonard, 2010. "Do experiences of racial discrimination predict cardiovascular disease among African American men? The moderating role of internalized negative racial group attitudes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(6), pages 1182-1188, September.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Lindström, Martin, 2008. "Social capital, anticipated ethnic discrimination and self-reported psychological health: A population-based study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 1-13, January.
    9. Cunningham, Timothy J. & Seeman, Teresa E. & Kawachi, Ichiro & Gortmaker, Steven L. & Jacobs, David R. & Kiefe, Catarina I. & Berkman, Lisa F., 2012. "Racial/ethnic and gender differences in the association between self-reported experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination and inflammation in the CARDIA cohort of 4 US communities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(5), pages 922-931.
    10. Malmusi, Davide & Borrell, Carme & Benach, Joan, 2010. "Migration-related health inequalities: Showing the complex interactions between gender, social class and place of origin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1610-1619, November.
    11. 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.
    12. Van M. Ta Park & Marcelle M. Dougan & Oanh L. Meyer & Bora Nam & Marian Tzuang & Linda G. Park & Quyen Vuong & Joon Bang & Janice Y. Tsoh, 2022. "Discrimination Experiences during COVID-19 among a National, Multi-Lingual, Community-Based Sample of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: COMPASS Findings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-16, January.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. Jatrana, Santosh & Pasupuleti, Samba Siva Rao & Richardson, Ken, 2014. "Nativity, duration of residence and chronic health conditions in Australia: Do trends converge towards the native-born population?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 53-63.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Floor V.A. Van Oort & Jan Van der Ende & Alfons A.M. Crijnen & Frank C. Verhulst & Johan P. Mackenbach & Inez M.A. Joung, 2007. "Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health and Educational Attainment: Comparing Migrant and Native Children," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 53(6), pages 514-525, November.
    20. Ameed Saabneh, 2015. "Ethnic Health Inequalities in Unequal Societies: Morbidity Gaps Between Palestinians and Jews in Israel," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 445-466, October.

    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:66:y:2008:i:7:p:1627-1636. 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.