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Examining the Effect of Self-Rated Health on the Relationship Between Race and Racial Colorblindness in Germany

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Abstract

This exploratory study sought to test the relationship among race, self-rated health (SRH), and colorblindness, conceptualized as the belief that race/ethnicity should not and does not matter. Independently, SRH, a multidimensional concept entailing physical and psychological health and one’s affiliation in an ethnic/racial group, may contribute to racial attitudes. However, little is known about how SRH and racial/ethnic identity in combination may affect colorblind racial attitudes. It was thus hypothesized that SRH would moderate the relationship between race/ethnicity and colorblind racial attitudes. The research sample consisted of 136 autochthonous adults and “individuals with migration backgrounds” residing in Bavaria (Germany), who were divided by self-identified race (whites, n = 85; non-whites, n = 51). The results show that SRH moderates the relationship between race and racial colorblindness. More specifically, it was found that the greater the SRH of the white participants, the less they embraced a colorblind ideology. Conversely, the greater the SRH of the non-white participants, the greater their colorblind racial attitudes. These results suggest that stronger SRH may reduce colorblindness among whites and intensify it among non-whites. The implications of the obtained results may be useful in addressing how surmount barriers to data collection, measurements, and research related to racial and ethnic health disparities in “colorblind” Germany may contribute to health inequalities. Thus, this paper’s contribution lies in tracking such disparities to aid their reduction or elimination.

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Notes

  1. The population group with a migration background consists of all persons who have migrated to the territory of today’s Federal Republic of Germany after 1949, all foreigners born in Germany, and all people born in Germany who have at least one parent who immigrated into the country or was born as a foreigner in Germany [18].

  2. The “Healthy Migrant Effect” describes an empirically observed mortality advantage of migrants from certain countries of origin, relative to the majority population in host countries, usually in the industrialized world. Occasionally, it also relates to the relatively lower morbidity of immigrants [42].

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Acknowledgements

I thank one anonymous reviewer, the editorial board, and especially Prof. Ing. Mgr. Martin Lukeš and Mgr. Kateřina Osmar, M.B.A for their help in proofreading my manuscript. Above all, I thank the research participants for their openness and trust.

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  1. Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics, Prague (VSE), W. Churchill Sq. 4, 130 67, Prague 3, Czech Republic

    Warsame Osmar

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Osmar, W. Examining the Effect of Self-Rated Health on the Relationship Between Race and Racial Colorblindness in Germany. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 8, 981–989 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00854-z

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