Perceived Racism and Self-Reported Health in a Diverse
Sample
Jasmin Kwok, St. John's
University’s Student
Elizabeth Brondolo, Department of
Psychology, St. John’s College of liberal Arts and Sciences
Juhee Jhalani, Asha Kumar, Alan Roth,
Jahanara Ullah
Abstract: Racism has been hypothesized to serve as a stressor
impairing the health status of ethnic minority groups. The aim of
this study is to examine the relationship of perceived racism to
self-reported health in three ethnic minority groups. The 595
person sample included 134 American-born Blacks (102 women), 88
American-born Latino(a)s (71 women) and 373 Asians (258 women),
with a mean age of 29 years recruited from community medical
centers and an urban university. Perceived racism was assessed with
the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire Community Version
(PEDQ-CV) which measures lifetime exposure to ethnicity-related
maltreatment, including social exclusion, workplace discrimination,
stigmatization, and threat/harassment. Self reported health was
assessed with the MOS general health scale (r = -.26, p < .01).
The effects were seen for Blacks (r = -0.30) and Latinos (r =
-0.20) and for the Asian group as a whole as well as for the
Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Filipino subgroups (rs = -.26 to -.39,
all ps < .05). The effects persisted when controlling for trait
hostility. There were no ethnicity differences in the relationship
of racism to self-reported health.