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Racial Discrimination and Mental Health in the USA: Testing the Reverse Racism Hypothesis

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

The present study examined whether the health disadvantages consequent of racial discrimination experienced by four racial/ethnic minority groups are equivalent with that of the dominant racial group.

Method

Data was derived from the 2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Logistic regression and heterogeneous choice models were used to test the moderating role of race/ethnicity in regards to the associations between racial discrimination and ten DSM-V diagnoses.

Results

Non-Hispanic blacks reported the highest levels of experiencing racial discrimination, while Non-Hispanic whites reported the lowest. Exposure to racial discrimination was associated with higher odds of psychiatric disorders for non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics than it was for non-Hispanic whites, while non-Hispanic American Indians/Alaska Natives had lower odds of psychiatric disorders.

Conclusions

Analyses indicated that racial discrimination poses stronger mental health disadvantages on racial/ethnic minorities than it does to non-Hispanic whites. This finding not only refutes the notion of reverse racism, but also calls for more efforts to close the racial/ethnic health gap for those exposed to racial discrimination.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr. David T. Takeuchi and Dr. Wen Fan for their early guidance on this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    Bongki Woo

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  1. Bongki Woo
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Correspondence to Bongki Woo.

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The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

The present research was approved by the Boston College Institutional Review Board. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by the author.

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Woo, B. Racial Discrimination and Mental Health in the USA: Testing the Reverse Racism Hypothesis. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 5, 766–773 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0421-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0421-6

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