Race and health

Ethnic group

Psychology

Communication

Social psychology

Psychiatry

Anthropology

Disadvantaged

Gender studies

Racism

Clinical psychology

Political science

Institutional racism

Hostility

Health equity

Affect (linguistics)

Stressor

Mental health

Nursing

Public health

Sociology

Medicine

Race (biology)

Journal of Health and Social Behavior

This article provides an overview of research on race-related stressors that can affect the mental health of socially disadvantaged racial and ethnic populations. It begins by reviewing the research on self-reported discrimination and mental health. Although discrimination is the most studied aspect of racism, racism can also affect mental health through structural/institutional mechanisms and racism that is deeply embedded in the larger culture. Key priorities for research include more systematic attention to stress proliferation processes due to institutional racism, the assessment of stressful experiences linked to natural or manmade environmental crises, documenting and understanding the health effects of hostility against immigrants and people of color, cataloguing and quantifying protective resources, and enhancing our understanding of the complex association between physical and mental health.

Stress and the Mental Health of Populations of Color: Advancing Our Understanding of Race-related Stressors