Investigating the Health Consequences for White Americans Who Believe White Americans Are Wealthy

Abstract

Poor White Americans report feeling “worse off” than poor Black Americans despite the persistent negative effects of racism on Black Americans. Additionally, some health issues are rising among White but not Black Americans. Across two representative samples, we test whether White = wealthy stereotypes lead White Americans to feel relatively worse off than their racial group and whether these perceptions have health consequences. Across both samples, White Americans perceived their own status to be significantly lower than the status of the majority of White Americans. In contrast, Black Americans perceived their own status to be significantly higher than the majority of Black Americans. Critically, status comparisons between the self and one’s racial group predicted the experience of fewer positive emotions among White, but not Black, Americans, which mediated reduced mental and physical health. We conclude that race/class stereotypes may shape how poverty subjectively feels.

The policy implications of feeling relatively low versus high status within a privileged group.

“…One possible explanation for these findings may be that greater awareness of structural racism (Rucker et al, 2019), as well as personal experiences of racial discrimination (Pew Research Center, 2016) decrease Black Americans' tendency to make internal attributions for economic challenges (Kraus, 2018). Consistent with this reasoning, data indicate that poor Black Americans have higher self-esteem, and express less despair about their status, than poor White Americans-perhaps due to a greater recognition that poverty is not earned (Cohen et al, 2017;Cooley et al, 2020;Graham, 2017). More generally, research finds that people who are concerned about structural racism are more likely to support policies that will mitigate inequality (Rucker et al, 2019).…”

“…After completing the ladders, participants reported their positive and negative emotions, mental and physical health symptoms, and their belief that their status is fixed. These measures were included to answer a separate research question and thus will not be discussed further (see Cooley et al, 2020).…”

“…Although status comparisons between racial groups have been shown to influence laziness stereotypes of the poor (Brown-Iannuzzi, Dotsch, et al, 2017; Gilens, 1996), these stereotypes may also be shaped by status comparisons within racial groups. Indeed, both White and Black Americans report that their most frequent status comparison is with people from their own racial group (Cooley et al, 2020). And, due to stereotypes that White people are wealthy, this may lead many White Americans to feel as if they are falling behind (Cooley et al, 2020; Dupree et al, 2020).…”

“…Indeed, both White and Black Americans report that their most frequent status comparison is with people from their own racial group (Cooley et al, 2020). And, due to stereotypes that White people are wealthy, this may lead many White Americans to feel as if they are falling behind (Cooley et al, 2020; Dupree et al, 2020). Extending from this work, we anticipate that when White Americans feel they are financially falling behind their racial group, their attributional process for financial success (i.e., wealth), and financial failure (i.e., poverty), will shift.…”

“…In the present work, however, we propose that within-group status comparisons may also play an important role in White Americans’ attitudes toward welfare (Festinger, 1954). In particular, given that Americans most often compare their status to racial ingroup members (Cooley et al, 2020), we expect that stereotypes that White = wealthy may lead many White Americans to feel relatively lower status than the majority of their racial group. This is important because people who feel they are not doing well financially are less likely to hold meritocratic views of success, regardless of their objective status (Kraus & Keltner, 2013; Kraus & Tan, 2015).…”