The Effect of Racial Discrimination on Mental and Physical Health: A Propensity Score Weighting Approach

Rationale: The preponderance of research documents the negative consequences of racial discrimination for the mental and physical well-being across several racial/ethnic groups including Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. Despite this large body of research, few studies have attempted to evaluate racial discrimination as a casual factor of worse health among racial minority groups. The current study utilized nationally representative data to estimate the causal effect of racial discrimination on cardiovascular disease (CVD), self-rated physical health (SRH), body mass index (BMI), depression disorder, and substance use disorder. In addition, we examined whether the effect of racial discrimination on health was moderated by socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., age, race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, marital status, geographic location, and health insurance coverage).

Methods: Data were from the combined National Survey of American Life and the National Latino and Asian American Study. We applied a propensity score weighting approach to estimate the differences between individuals who reported ever (N = 4358) or never (N = 1836) experiencing racial discrimination on a list of health outcomes (e.g., CVD, SRH, BMI, depression disorder, and substance use disorder).

Results: Participants who reported ever experiencing racial discrimination were about 5 % higher CVD risk, had 0.12 points lower SRH, a 3 % higher probability of a depression disorder, and a 2 % higher probability of a substance use disorder. Moderation effects by race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and health insurance coverage were found.

Conclusion: Our study represents one of the first attempts to apply a propensity score weighting approach to causally link racial discrimination to worse health for racial minority individuals. This study adds to a larger body of research documenting the negative association between racial discrimination and health.