ArticleHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2021
Perceived racial discrimination and healthy behavior among African Americans.
Article in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Accumulating disadvantage: Mechanisms linking discrimination histories and adolescent health.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Experiences of In-Group and Out-Group Skin Tone Discrimination and Their Associations with Incident Cardiovascular Disease Among African American Adults in the Jackson Heart Study.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Discrimination Distress and Current Combustible and Non-combustible Tobacco Product Use Among US Youth, 2023.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Article
- Measuring the Interrelationships Between Cognitive Performance, Race/Ethnicity, Discrimination, Health Behaviors, and Physiological Dysregulation: A Path Analysis of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.Journal of aging and health · 2025Article
- The Influence of Racial Discrimination as a Chronic Stressor on Type 2 Diabetes Risk and Self-Management Behaviors among Black Adults: A Scoping Review.Current diabetes reports · 2024Article
- Self-reported Racial Discrimination and Healthy Behaviors in Black Adults Residing in Rural Persistent Poverty Areas.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Article
- Optimism, pessimism, and physical health among youth: a scoping review.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2024Article
- Racial Context and Health Behaviors Among Black Immigrants.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2023Article
- The role of discrimination and adverse childhood experiences in disordered eating.Journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
- Coping styles moderate the relationship between perceived discrimination and eating behaviors during the transition to college.Appetite · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveNumerous studies have found evidence of a link between perceived discrimination and unhealthy behavior, especially substance use. Within this body of literature, however, several studies have found unexpected evidence of a positive relation between perceived racial discrimination among African Americans-mostly women-and certain types of healthy behavior, primarily exercise and healthy eating. The current study further examined this positive relation, including an anticipated moderator: optimism. It also examined the relation between perceived racial discrimination and a correlate of unhealthy behavior: BMI.
methodSix waves of data were collected over 14 years in three related samples of African Americans from families participating in the Family and Community Health Study. Each family included an adolescent (Mage = 10.5 at Wave 1), the adolescent's primary caregiver (Mage = 37), and, in some cases, an older sibling of that adolescent (Mage = 13). Wave 1 Ns were 889, 889, and 295, respectively. Healthy behavior was defined as diet and exercise.
resultsThere was very little evidence of a long-term relation between perceived racial discrimination and BMI in any sample, and no evidence of a relation between discrimination and healthy behavior among the males. However, correlational analyses revealed a positive prospective relation between discrimination and healthy behavior among all three groups of females; structural equation modeling indicated that this relation was stronger among women who were high in optimism.
conclusionsPerceived racial discrimination does not appear to be related to BMI among African Americans, but it is related to healthy behavior among Black females who are high in dispositional optimism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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