Structural racism in the workplace: Does perception matter for health inequalities?

Abstract

Structural racism has been linked to racial health inequalities and may operate through an unequal labor market that results in inequalities in psychosocial workplace environments (PWE). Experiences of the PWE may be a critical but understudied source of racial health disparities as most adults spend a large portion of their lives in the workplace, and work-related stress affects health outcomes. Further, it is not clear if the objective characteristics of the workplace are important for health inequalities or if these inequalities are driven by the perception of the workplace. Using data from the 2008 to 2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a probability-based sample of US adults 50 years of age and older and the Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET), we examine the role of both standardized, objective (O*NET) and survey-based, subjective (as in HRS) measures of PWEs on health and Black-White health inequalities. We find that Blacks experience more stressful PWEs and have poorer health as measured by self-rated health, episodic memory function, and mean arterial pressure. Mediation analyses suggest that these objective O*NET ratings, but not the subjective perceptions, partially explain the relationship between race and health. We discuss these results within the extant literature on workplace and health and health inequalities. Furthermore, we discuss the use of standardized objective measures of the PWE to capture racial inequalities in workplace environment.

Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Sex Hormones among Male and Female American Adolescents

“…Youths who are Black or from a low SES background are more likely to live in urban communities affected by structural inequalities, limited resources, and blocked opportunities. In these neighborhoods, scarcity of resources is associated with dense crime and poverty, as well as with high levels of stress, environmental toxins, and risk [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ]. As a proxy of experiencing such disadvantages, and as a proxy of living in such contexts, SES and race [ 32 ] show an association with the timing of puberty, sexual initiation, and childbearing [ 16 , 21 ].…”

Racial inequalities in health: Framing future research

“…For example, the US Department of Labor has created standardized measures of workplace environments within occupational categories. Researchers in this special issue have linked these innovative measures to the probability-based sample of older adults in the Health and Retirement Study to examine whether the influence of workplace environments on racial health inequalities requires one to perceive that environment as stressful (McCluney et al, 2017). They report that racial inequities in the workplace environment (e.g., opportunities for advancement, autonomy), as captured by standardized measures, were related to racial inequalities in health.…”

Cultural health literacy: the experiences of Māori in palliative care

“…International literature makes links between racism, culture, health literacy, and equitable outcomes. Racism contributes to poor health outcomes for indigenous peoples (24)(25)(26), including Māori, who are 10 times more likely to experience racism in the health sector than Europeans (27,28). A systematic review in 2011 identified that health literacy can be a mediator of racial disparities in health outcomes (29).…”