Effects of Minority Status and Perceived Discrimination on Mental Health

Bethany G. Everett (), Jarron Saint Onge and Stefanie Mollborn
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Bethany G. Everett: University of Utah
Jarron Saint Onge: University of Kansas
Stefanie Mollborn: University of Colorado at Boulder

Population Research and Policy Review, 2016, vol. 35, issue 4, No 2, 445-469

Abstract: Abstract Based in a minority social stress perspective, this study uses propensity score matching techniques to assess the impact of self-reported discrimination on mental health. Using a sample of 14,609 young adults from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we explore whether the effects of discrimination vary across status characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and body mass), including both majority and minority populations. Further we investigate the heterogeneous effects of discrimination across propensity scores, or probabilities of experiencing discrimination. We find that self-reported discrimination increases the average perceived stress score and depressive symptoms score by roughly ½ standard deviation, but is not related to anxiety. Further, our results show that while all groups are negatively affected by discrimination, the magnitude of the impact is largest among groups with the lowest propensity scores.

Keywords: Discrimination; Minority status; Mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11113-016-9391-3

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