The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study
BackgroundTwo psychosocial constructs that have shown consistent associations with negative health outcomes are discrimination and perceived unfairness. ObjectiveThe current analyses report the effects of discrimination and unfairness on medical, psychological, and behavioral outcomes fr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2021-05-01
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| Series: | JMIR Public Health and Surveillance |
| Online Access: | https://publichealth.jmir.org/2021/5/e26622 |
| _version_ | 1819243487590088704 |
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| author | Resnicow, Ken Patel, Minal Green, Molly Smith, Alyssa Bacon, Elizabeth Goodell, Stefanie Kilby, Dylan Tariq, Madiha Alhawli, Asraa Syed, Nadia Griggs, Jennifer Stiffler, Matthew |
| author_facet | Resnicow, Ken Patel, Minal Green, Molly Smith, Alyssa Bacon, Elizabeth Goodell, Stefanie Kilby, Dylan Tariq, Madiha Alhawli, Asraa Syed, Nadia Griggs, Jennifer Stiffler, Matthew |
| author_sort | Resnicow, Ken |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundTwo psychosocial constructs that have shown consistent associations with negative health outcomes are discrimination and perceived unfairness.
ObjectiveThe current analyses report the effects of discrimination and unfairness on medical, psychological, and behavioral outcomes from a recent cross-sectional survey conducted in a multiethnic sample of adults in Michigan.
MethodsA cross-section survey was collected using multiple approaches: community settings, telephone-listed sample, and online panel. Unfairness was assessed with a single-item previously used in the Whitehall study, and everyday discrimination was assessed with the Williams 9-item scale. Outcomes included mental health symptoms, past-month cigarette use, past-month alcohol use, past-month marijuana use, lifetime pain medication use, and self-reported medical history.
ResultsA total of 2238 usable surveys were collected. In bivariate analyses, higher unfairness values were significantly associated with lower educational attainment, lower age, lower household income, and being unmarried. The highest unfairness values were observed for African American and multiracial respondents followed by Middle Eastern or North African participants. Unfairness was significantly related to worse mental health functioning, net adjustment for sociodemographic variables, and everyday discrimination. Unfairness was also related to self-reported history of depression and high blood pressure although, after including everyday discrimination in the model, only the association with depression remained significant. Unfairness was significantly related to 30-day marijuana use, 30-day cigarette use, and lifetime opiate use.
ConclusionsOur findings of a generally harmful effect of perceived unfairness on health are consistent with prior studies. Perceived unfairness may be one of the psychological pathways through which discrimination negatively impacts health. Future studies examining the relationships we observed using longitudinal data and including more objective measures of behavior and health status are needed to confirm and extend our findings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:56:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-45dd06e795274b199ae840ab14bfad4d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2369-2960 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:56:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Public Health and Surveillance |
| spelling | doaj.art-45dd06e795274b199ae840ab14bfad4d2022-12-21T17:42:44ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Public Health and Surveillance2369-29602021-05-0175e2662210.2196/26622The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional StudyResnicow, KenPatel, MinalGreen, MollySmith, AlyssaBacon, ElizabethGoodell, StefanieKilby, DylanTariq, MadihaAlhawli, AsraaSyed, NadiaGriggs, JenniferStiffler, MatthewBackgroundTwo psychosocial constructs that have shown consistent associations with negative health outcomes are discrimination and perceived unfairness. ObjectiveThe current analyses report the effects of discrimination and unfairness on medical, psychological, and behavioral outcomes from a recent cross-sectional survey conducted in a multiethnic sample of adults in Michigan. MethodsA cross-section survey was collected using multiple approaches: community settings, telephone-listed sample, and online panel. Unfairness was assessed with a single-item previously used in the Whitehall study, and everyday discrimination was assessed with the Williams 9-item scale. Outcomes included mental health symptoms, past-month cigarette use, past-month alcohol use, past-month marijuana use, lifetime pain medication use, and self-reported medical history. ResultsA total of 2238 usable surveys were collected. In bivariate analyses, higher unfairness values were significantly associated with lower educational attainment, lower age, lower household income, and being unmarried. The highest unfairness values were observed for African American and multiracial respondents followed by Middle Eastern or North African participants. Unfairness was significantly related to worse mental health functioning, net adjustment for sociodemographic variables, and everyday discrimination. Unfairness was also related to self-reported history of depression and high blood pressure although, after including everyday discrimination in the model, only the association with depression remained significant. Unfairness was significantly related to 30-day marijuana use, 30-day cigarette use, and lifetime opiate use. ConclusionsOur findings of a generally harmful effect of perceived unfairness on health are consistent with prior studies. Perceived unfairness may be one of the psychological pathways through which discrimination negatively impacts health. Future studies examining the relationships we observed using longitudinal data and including more objective measures of behavior and health status are needed to confirm and extend our findings.https://publichealth.jmir.org/2021/5/e26622 |
| spellingShingle | Resnicow, Ken Patel, Minal Green, Molly Smith, Alyssa Bacon, Elizabeth Goodell, Stefanie Kilby, Dylan Tariq, Madiha Alhawli, Asraa Syed, Nadia Griggs, Jennifer Stiffler, Matthew The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study JMIR Public Health and Surveillance |
| title | The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_full | The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_fullStr | The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_short | The Association of Unfairness with Mental and Physical Health in a Multiethnic Sample of Adults: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_sort | association of unfairness with mental and physical health in a multiethnic sample of adults cross sectional study |
| url | https://publichealth.jmir.org/2021/5/e26622 |
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