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Cited by 1,681Racial and Ethnic Identity ResearchHealth disparities and outcomesGender, Health, and Social Inequality

A systematic review of empirical research on self-reported racism and health

Paradies, Yin·2006·International Journal of Epidemiology
DOI 10.1093/ije/dyl056
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Abstract

This paper reviews 138 empirical quantitative population-based studies of self-reported racism and health. These studies show an association between self-reported racism and ill health for oppressed racial groups after adjustment for a range of confounders. The strongest and most consistent findings are for negative mental health outcomes and health-related behaviours, with weaker associations existing for positive mental health outcomes, self-assessed health status, and physical health outcomes. Most studies in this emerging field have been published in the past 5 years and have been limited by a dearth of cohort studies, a lack of psychometrically validated exposure instruments, poor conceptualization and definition of racism, conflation of racism with stress, and debate about the aetiologically relevant period for self-reported racism. Future research should examine the psychometric validity of racism instruments and include these instruments, along with objectively measured health outcomes, in existing large-scale survey vehicles as well as longitudinal studies and studies involving children. There is also a need to gain a better understanding of the perception, attribution, and reporting of racism, to investigate the pathways via which self-reported racism affects health, the interplay between mental and physical health outcomes, and exposure to intra-racial, internalized, and systemic racism. Ensuring the quality of studies in this field will allow future research to reveal the complex role that racism plays as a determinant of population health.

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Crossref · 10.1093/ije/dyl056

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  • Consistent with previous systematic reviews, trends over time indicate increasing output of published articles focusing on racism and (particularly adult) health, while a relative majority of research is still being conducted in the U.S. among African Americans.

    “Consistent with previous systematic reviews, trends over time indicate increasing output of published articles focusing on racism and (particularly adult) health, while a relative majority of research is still being conducted in the U.S. among African Americans [10, 14].”

    From Racism as a Determinant of Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2015) · cites this paper as [10]

  • Previous findings indicate that the association between racism and health is stronger in studies that employ multiple item or multiple domain measures of racism.

    “The latter resonates with previous findings that the association between racism and health is stronger in studies that employ multiple item or multiple domain measures of racism [10, 22, 419].”

    From Racism as a Determinant of Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2015) · cites this paper as [10]

  • Systematic environmental effects that contribute to an increase in non-genetic risk factors in African Americans-current and historical racism, for instance-could explain the marked health differences between African Americans and European Americans.

    “Whereas natural selection cannot easily explain the observed population difference, systematic environmental effects that contribute to an increase in non-genetic risk factors in African Americans—current and historical racism, for instance [53–55]—could, on the other hand, explain such marked differences.”

    From Interpreting polygenic scores, polygenic adaptation, and human phenotypic differences (2019) · cites this paper as [53]

  • The significant adverse relationship between ageism and health in our review appears even more consistent than the relationships found in systematic reviews of racism's effect on health.

    “The significant adverse relationship between ageism and health in our review appears even more consistent than the relationships found in systematic reviews of racism’s effect on health [165,166].”

    From Global reach of ageism on older persons' health: a systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as [165]

  • Using comparable methodologies, systematic reviews have found that 41.6% - 64.2% of the associations were significant between racism and adverse health.

    “Using comparable methodologies, systematic reviews have found that 41.6% - 64.2% of the associations were significant between racism and adverse health [165,166].”

    From Global reach of ageism on older persons' health: a systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as [165]

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Authors
Paradies, Y.
Affiliations
The University of Melbourne (AU)
Corresponding author
Paradies, Yin
ORCID
Paradies, Yin
Venue
International Journal of Epidemiology
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2006-04-03
Volume
35
Issue
4
Pages
888-901
ISSN
  • 0300-5771 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-3685
DOI
10.1093/ije/dyl056
OpenAlex
W2129681452
Cited by
1,681
References
183
Citations by year
2026: 27 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 76 · 2022: 111 · 2021: 125 · 2020: 96 · 2019: 108 · 2018: 86 · 2017: 129 · 2016: 113 · 2015: 104 · 2014: 110 · 2013: 97 · 2012: 106
FWCI
19.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • International Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Deakin Research Online (Deakin University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • US-UK Fulbright Commission
  • Fulbright Australia
  • Medical Research Council
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (236235)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Gender, Health, and Social Inequality
Keywords
racism and health, mental health, health behavior, self-rated health, physical health, racial minorities, internalized racism, systemic racism, health disparities
MeSH terms
Mental Disorders, Health Status, Humans, Prejudice, Self Concept, Social Class, Social Control, Informal, Stress, Psychological, Empirical Research

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