IJE Advance Access originally published online on April 3, 2006
International Journal of Epidemiology 2006 35(4):888-901; doi:10.1093/ije/dyl056
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ethnicity and Health |
A systematic review of empirical research on self-reported racism and health
1 Centre for Health and Society, University of Melbourne, Australia
2 Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Australia
Menzies School of Health Research, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia. E-mail: yin.paradies{at}menzies.edu.au
This paper reviews 138 empirical quantitative population-based studies of self-reported racism and health. These studies show an association between self-reported racism and ill health for oppressed racial groups after adjustment for a range of confounders. The strongest and most consistent findings are for negative mental health outcomes and health-related behaviours, with weaker associations existing for positive mental health outcomes, self-assessed health status, and physical health outcomes. Most studies in this emerging field have been published in the past 5 years and have been limited by a dearth of cohort studies, a lack of psychometrically validated exposure instruments, poor conceptualization and definition of racism, conflation of racism with stress, and debate about the aetiologically relevant period for self-reported racism. Future research should examine the psychometric validity of racism instruments and include these instruments, along with objectively measured health outcomes, in existing large-scale survey vehicles as well as longitudinal studies and studies involving children. There is also a need to gain a better understanding of the perception, attribution, and reporting of racism, to investigate the pathways via which self-reported racism affects health, the interplay between mental and physical health outcomes, and exposure to intra-racial, internalized, and systemic racism. Ensuring the quality of studies in this field will allow future research to reveal the complex role that racism plays as a determinant of population health.
Keywords Race, ethnic groups, racism, discrimination, stress, review
Accepted 7 March 2006
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  L. L. Barnes, C. F. M. de Leon, T. T. Lewis, J. L. Bienias, R. S. Wilson, and D. A. Evans Perceived Discrimination and Mortality in a Population-Based Study of Older Adults Am J Public Health, July 1, 2008; 98(7): 1241 - 1247. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. B. de Castro, G. C. Gee, and D. T. Takeuchi Workplace Discrimination and Health Among Filipinos in the United States Am J Public Health, March 1, 2008; 98(3): 520 - 526. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. C. Gee, A. Ro, A. Gavin, and D. T. Takeuchi Disentangling the Effects of Racial and Weight Discrimination on Body Mass Index and Obesity Among Asian Americans Am J Public Health, March 1, 2008; 98(3): 493 - 500. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. Brondolo, D. J. Libby, E.-g. Denton, S. Thompson, D. L. Beatty, J. Schwartz, M. Sweeney, J. N. Tobin, A. Cassells, T. G. Pickering, et al. Racism and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in a Community Sample Psychosom Med, January 1, 2008; 70(1): 49 - 56. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. N. Borrell, D. R. Jacobs Jr, D. R. Williams, M. J. Pletcher, T. K. Houston, and C. I. Kiefe Self-reported Racial Discrimination and Substance Use in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Adults Study Am. J. Epidemiol., November 1, 2007; 166(9): 1068 - 1079. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. McKenzie and K. Bhui Institutional racism in psychiatry Psychiatr. Bull., October 1, 2007; 31(10): 397 - 397. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. Cardarelli, K. M. Cardarelli, and A. Luz Chiapa Brief Report: The Modifying Effects of Education and Income on Hispanics Reporting Perceived Discrimination Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, August 1, 2007; 29(3): 401 - 407. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. R Williams and T. R Earl Commentary: Race and mental health more questions than answers Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2007; 36(4): 758 - 760. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. R. Taylor, C. D. Williams, K. H. Makambi, C. Mouton, J. P. Harrell, Y. Cozier, J. R. Palmer, L. Rosenberg, and L. L. Adams-Campbell Racial Discrimination and Breast Cancer Incidence in US Black Women: The Black Women's Health Study Am. J. Epidemiol., July 1, 2007; 166(1): 46 - 54. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. S Bhopal Racism in health and health care in Europe: reality or mirage? Eur J Public Health, June 1, 2007; 17(3): 238 - 241. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|