Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status: Measurement and Methodological Issues

This article considers the ways in which race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) relate to each other and combine to affect racial variations in health status. The author reviews a number of methodological issues concerning the assessment of race in the United States that importantly affect the quality of the available data on racial differences in health. These issues include the discrepancy between self-identification and observer-reported race, changing racial classification categories and racial identification, the difficulties in categorizing persons of mixed racial parentage, and census undercount. In discussing the complex interactions between race and SES, the author first describes the relationship between race and SES and assesses the role of SES in accounting for racial differences in health, then shows how the failure of SES to completely account for racial variations in health status emphasizes the need for health researchers to give more systematic attention to the unique factors linked to race that affect health. These factors include racism, migration, acculturation, and the comprehensive assessment of SES.

[1]  G. Singh,et al.  Infant mortality in the United States: trends, differentials, and projections, 1950 through 2010. , 1995, American journal of public health.

[2]  R. Zimmerman,et al.  Who is Hispanic? Definitions and their consequences. , 1994, American journal of public health.

[3]  D. Harris.  The 1990 census count of American Indians: what do the numbers really mean? , 1994 .

[4]  D. Williams,et al.  The concept of race in Health Services Research: 1966 to 1990. , 1994, Health services research.

[5]  T. Laveist.  Beyond dummy variables and sample selection: what health services researchers ought to know about race as a variable. , 1994, Health services research.

[6]  William H. Frey,et al.  Changes in the segregation of whites from blacks during the 1980s: small steps toward a more integrated society. , 1994 .

[7]  R. Rumbaut,et al.  The Crucible Within: Ethnic Identity, Self-Esteem, and Segmented Assimilation among Children of Immigrants 1 , 1994 .

[8]  N. Krieger,et al.  Social Class: The Missing Link in U.S. Health Data , 1994, International journal of health services : planning, administration, evaluation.

[9]  W. Dressler.  Health in the African American Community: Accounting for Health Inequalities , 1993 .

[10]  P. Sorlie,et al.  Mortality by Hispanic status in the United States. , 1993, JAMA.

[11]  N. Krieger,et al.  Racism, sexism, and social class: implications for studies of health, disease, and well-being. , 1993, American journal of preventive medicine.

[12]  H. Hogan.  The 1990 Post-Enumeration Survey: operations and results. , 1993, Journal of the American Statistical Association.

[13]  K. Woodrow,et al.  Estimation of population coverage in the 1990 United States census based on demographic analysis. , 1993, Journal of the American Statistical Association.

[14]  J. Collins,et al.  Race and birthweight in biracial infants. , 1993, American journal of public health.

[15]  R. Cooper,et al.  Health and the social status of blacks in the United States. , 1993, Annals of epidemiology.

[16]  K. Schoendorf,et al.  Mortality among infants of black as compared with white college‐educated parents , 1992, The New England journal of medicine.

[17]  David R. Williams,et al.  Socioeconomic Status and Psychiatric Disorder among Blacks and Whites , 1992 .

[18]  E. Fries,et al.  Racial misclassification of Native Americans in a surveillance, epidemiology, and end results cancer registry. , 1992, Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

[19]  P. Sorlie,et al.  Validity of demographic characteristics on the death certificate. , 1992, Epidemiology.

[20]  R. Hahn,et al.  The state of federal health statistics on racial and ethnic groups. , 1992, JAMA.

[21]  T. Laveist.  The Political Empowerment and Health Status of African-Americans: Mapping a New Territory , 1992, American Journal of Sociology.

[22]  T. Laveist,et al.  "Race" in the epidemiologic literature: an examination of the American Journal of Epidemiology, 1921-1990. , 1991, American journal of epidemiology.

[23]  C. Herring,et al.  Skin Tone and Stratification in the Black Community , 1991, American Journal of Sociology.

[24]  A. Polednak,et al.  Black-white differences in infant mortality in 38 standard metropolitan statistical areas. , 1991, American journal of public health.

[25]  P. Whelton,et al.  The association of skin color with blood pressure in US blacks with low socioeconomic status. , 1991, JAMA.

[26]  I. Ayres.  Fair Driving: Gender and Race Discrimination in Retail Car Negotiations , 1991 .

[27]  Elizabeth Martin,et al.  CONTEXT EFFECTS FOR CENSUS MEASURES OF RACE AND HISPANIC ORIGIN , 1990 .

[28]  V. Navarro,et al.  Race or class versus race and class: mortality differentials in the United States , 1990, The Lancet.

[29]  D. Massey.  American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass , 1990, American Journal of Sociology.

[30]  C. Snipp,et al.  American Indians: The First of This Land. , 1991 .

[31]  Conrad Taeuber,et al.  The American Census: A Social History , 1989 .

[32]  N. Krieger.  Shades of Difference: Theoretical Underpinnings of the Medical Controversy on Black/White Differences in the United States, 1830–1870 , 1987, International journal of health services : planning, administration, evaluation.

[33]  W. P. Frisbie,et al.  Phenotype and Life Chances Among Chicanos , 1987 .

[34]  Sidney M. Willhelm.  The Economic Demise of Blacks in America , 1986, Journal of black studies.

[35]  N. Krieger,et al.  The Health of Black Folk: Disease, Class and Ideology of Science , 1986 .

[36]  R. Kessler,et al.  A new perspective on the relationships among race, social class, and psychological distress. , 1986, Journal of health and social behavior.

[37]  R. David,et al.  The biological concept of race and its application to public health and epidemiology. , 1986, Journal of health politics, policy and law.

[38]  Sharon M. Collins.  The Making of the Black Middle Class , 1983 .

[39]  L. Pol.  Discrimination in the Home Lending Market: A Macro Perspective. , 1982 .

[40]  Margo J. Anderson,et al.  The Census , 1921, The Hospital.

[41]  David R. Williams,et al.  Us socioeconomic and racial differences in health: patterns and explanations , 1995 .

[42]  K. Eschbach.  The enduring and vanishing American Indian: American Indian population growth and intermarriage in 1990 , 1995 .

[43]  H. Amaro,et al.  Latino outlook: good health, uncertain prognosis. , 1994, Annual review of public health.

[44]  D. Williams,et al.  The concept of race and health status in America. , 1994, Public health reports.

[45]  J. Lin-Fu.  Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: An Overview of Demographic Characteristics and Health Care Issues. , 1993, Asian American and Pacific Islander journal of health.

[46]  Moon S. Chen,et al.  A 1993 Status Report on the Health Status of Asian Pacific Islander Americans: Comparisons with Healthy People 2000 Objectives. , 1993, Asian American and Pacific Islander journal of health.

[47]  S. Preston,et al.  Effects of early-life conditions on adult mortality: a review. , 1992, Population index.

[48]  R. D. Kennedy,et al.  Differences between Oklahoma Indian infant mortality and other races. , 1991, Public health reports.

[49]  Kennedy Rd,et al.  Differences between Oklahoma Indian infant mortality and other races. , 1991 .

[50]  P. Ries.  Health of black and white Americans, 1985-87. , 1990, Vital and health statistics. Series 10, Data from the National Health Survey.

[51]  R. Williams,et al.  A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society. Summary and Conclusions. , 1989 .

[52]  M. Frank,et al.  The dark side of self- and social perception: black uniforms and aggression in professional sports. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[53]  P. Berman,et al.  Quality of 1980 census data for American Indians. , 1986, Social biology.

[54]  Michael Omi,et al.  Racial formation in the United States , 1986 .

[55]  J. Robinson.  Racial inequality and the probability of occupation-related injury or illness. , 1984, The Milbank Memorial Fund quarterly. Health and society.

[56]  Wilson Rw,et al.  A comparison of "black" and "other white" data from the National Health Interview Survey and mortality statistics , 1981 .

[57]  J. Franklin.  Color And Race , 1969 .