Does School Racial Composition Explain Why High Income Black Youth Perceive More Discrimination? A Gender Analysis

Abstract

Recent research has documented poor mental health among high socioeconomic status (SES) Blacks, particularly African American males. The literature has also shown a positive link between SES and perceived discrimination, suggesting that perceived discrimination may explain why high SES Black males report poor mental health. To better understand the role of contextual factors in explaining this pattern, we aimed to test whether school racial composition explains why high income Black youth perceive more discrimination. We explored these associations by ethnicity and gender. Using data from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent supplement (NSAL-A), the current study included 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth, with a mean age of 15. Ethnicity, age, gender, income-to-needs ratio (SES), skin color, school racial composition, and perceived (daily) discrimination were measured. Using Stata 15.0 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA), we fitted seven structural equation models (SEMs) for data analysis in the pooled sample based on the intersection of ethnicity and gender. Considerable gender by ethnicity variations were found in the associations between SES, school racial composition, and perceived discrimination. For African American males but not African American females or Caribbean Black males or females, school racial composition fully mediated the effect of SES on perceived discrimination. The role of inter-racial contact as a mechanism for high discrimination and poor mental health of Black American adolescents may depend on their intersection of ethnicity and gender. School racial composition may be a mechanism for increased perceived discrimination among high SES African American males.

High Education Level Protects European Americans But Not African Americans Against Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: National Health Interview Survey

“…One of the mechanisms of the MDRs is that high education level has a smaller effect on reducing the risk of poverty for AAs, compared to EAs [57,94]. Another mechanism is that high SEP AAs face more not less discrimination [111][112][113][114][115][116][117].…”

Educational Attainment Better Protects African American Women than African American Men Against Depressive Symptoms and Psychological Distress

“…Effects of education attainment [ 15 ] and employment [ 37 ] on mortality are weaker for African Americans as compared to whites. Education attainment [ 4 ] and income [ 2 , 3 , 38 ] better reduce risk of depression for whites as compared to African Americans. Income promotes positive emotions [ 39 ] and self-rated mental health [ 19 ] of whites but not African Americans.…”

“…African American men gain fewer psychological benefits from their education attainment and income because of the pervasive racism and discrimination [ 3 , 5 , 17 , 38 , 40 ]. As the SES of African American males increases, they are subject to more contact with whites, [ 38 , 40 ], which in turn increases their discriminatory experiences [ 16 , 17 ]. High-SES African American boys attend predominantly white schools [ 38 ] and high-SES African American men work in predominantly white work places [ 40 ].…”

Education and Income Better Boost the Health of Non-Hispanic White than Black Americans

“…Thus highly educated non-Hispanic Blacks make lower income and are more likely to live under poverty despite high educational level, compared to non-Hispanic Whites with the same education (44,48,49). On top of labor market discrimination, interpersonal discrimination is a major risk in the life of highly educated Blacks, because highly educated Blacks are likely to have higher not lower exposure and vulnerability to discrimination (27,(50)(51)(52). This is in part because highly educated non-Hispanic Blacks are at a closer proximity to non-Hispanic Whites in their work environment, which means discrimination (39,(50)(51)(52)(53).…”

“…On top of labor market discrimination, interpersonal discrimination is a major risk in the life of highly educated Blacks, because highly educated Blacks are likely to have higher not lower exposure and vulnerability to discrimination (27,(50)(51)(52). This is in part because highly educated non-Hispanic Blacks are at a closer proximity to non-Hispanic Whites in their work environment, which means discrimination (39,(50)(51)(52)(53). Another mechanism is that even psychological traits and coping that are expected to mediate the effects of educational attainment (e.g.…”