Psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors that influence the relationship between perceived discrimination and chronic health illnesses among African American women

Abstract

Research studies have begun to examine the pathways of perceived discrimination that lead to poor chronic health outcomes for African Americans (Anderson, McNeilly, & Myers, 1991. However, there is a paucity of studies examining the role of psychological symptoms in the relationship between perceived discrimination and chronic health outcomes. The present study examines the mediational role of non-specific symptoms of anxiety on the relationship between perceived discrimination and chronic health problems for African American women. The role of religiosity and health promoting behaviors was also taken into consideration via moderated mediational analyses. Results revealed that perceived discrimination was correlated with chronic health problems as expected. Moderated mediational analyses indicated that non-specific anxiety significantly mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and chronic health problems. Further, religiosity was not a significant moderator of the proposed model. Health-promoting behaviors did significantly moderate perceived discrimination on nonspecific anxiety in the full-proposed model, but did not significantly moderate non-specific anxiety on chronic health problems. The implications of the current findings are discussed.