Perceived discrimination and physical health-related quality of life: The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sociocultural Ancillary Study

Abstract

Rationale: The aim of this study was to examine the direct associations of perceived personal and group discrimination with physical health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Latinx adults. We also tested whether ethnic identity and depression symptoms sequentially mediate these associations. Method: This population-based study included 5313 Latinx adults, ages 18–74 years, from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (2008–11) and its Sociocultural Ancillary Study (2010–11). Participants were recruited from the Bronx; NY; Chicago, IL; Miami, FL; and San Diego, CA. Self-reported perceived personal and group discrimination, ethnic identity, depression symptoms, and physical HRQoL were ascertained through interviewer-administered surveys. Survey-weighted path analysis was used to examine direct and indirect effects simultaneously in one analytic model controlling for demographic covariates. Results: Path analysis indicated that higher perceived personal discrimination was directly associated with poorer physical HRQoL and this association was only mediated by depression symptoms. In contrast, perceived group discrimination was not directly associated with physical HRQoL. However, each of the direct paths linking perceived group discrimination to physical HRQoL were statistically significant: perceived group discrimination was positively associated with ethnic identity, and ethnic identity was negatively associated with depression symptoms, and, in turn, depression symptoms were negatively associated with physical HRQoL. Our model accounted for 18% of the variance of physical HRQoL. Conclusions: Perceived personal and group discrimination are differently associated with physical HRQoL. Results highlight the importance of considering self-perceptions of different discrimination forms when evaluating its impact on the physical HRQoL of Latinx adults.

The Impact of Socioeconomic Determinants on the Quality of Life of Moroccan Breast Cancer Survivors Diagnosed Two Years Earlier at the National Institute of Oncology in Rabat

“…In fact, feeling discriminated against by the employer is associated with an increase in the probability of job exit of about 11% for both men and women [ 46 ]. Admittedly, perceived personal discrimination is directly associated with a lower physical quality of life [ 47 ]. This can be explained by the myth that cancer is contagious and can always lead to death [ 48 ].…”

Socioeconomic and psychosocial mechanisms underlying racial/ethnic disparities in cognition among older adults.

“…For example, greater racial/ethnic discrimination was associated with psychological distress, unhealthy body mass index, and sleep disturbances in a sample of 1,332 Hispanic adults in the Texas City Stress and Health Study (Garcini et al, 2018). Similarly, additional studies have linked greater discrimination to worse overall health (Brondolo et al, 2011), mental health (Howarter & Bennett, 2013), and physical health-related quality of life (Molina et al, 2019) in Hispanic samples. Hispanic immigrants may also face psychosocial stressors related to acculturation, anti-immigrant policies and attitudes, and disruption of social networks (Cervantes et al, 1990).…”

Perceived discrimination and contextual problems among children and adolescents in northern Chile

“…However, one of these previous studies has brought up another variable into this question: maybe ethnic identification has not matured enough in adolescents, so it would not establish such a relation with discrimination due to it still being in development [ 56 ]. In partial corroboration to that notion, another study performed on Latin American adults was able to effectively find a relation between both variables (ethnic identification and perceived discrimination) [ 58 ]. On the other hand, another study performed on Asian American adults was not able to effectively find a relation between both variables [ 59 ].…”