Self-Perceived Discrimination, Eudaimonia Well-Being, and Mental Health Outcomes Among African American Adults

Introduction

 Prior studies demonstrated that race-related discrimination is associated with symptoms of psychological and physiological stress, such as depression, anxiety, cardiovascular reactivity, and hypertension.  Limited studies have noted the interplay between perceptions of racism and other contextual factors, such as socioeconomic status, gender, and age. Racism also may be experienced, vicariously, trans-generationally, and collectively. Eudaimonia well-being has been viewed as a potential mediator between perceived discrimination and mental health.

The purposes of this study are to investigate the relation between discrimination and mental health; 2) the role of Eudaimonia well-being, and 3) the effects of gender and age on study variables. 

 

Methods:

            This study selected the African American sample from the National Health Measurement Study (NHMS).  The total sample 1,085 consists of more women (n= 705, 65%) and older adults over 65 years (n= 433, 40%). Two different scales of self-perceived discrimination, everyday discrimination (5 items from “never” to “almost every day”) and lifetime discrimination (4 items with “yes/no”) were analyzed as independent variables. Eudaimonia well-being was measured by The purpose in life and self-acceptance scales. The mental health outcomes were measured by three types of measurements from mental component from SF-36, depressive days ranging 0-100, and a dichotomous measure of clinical depression. Factorial analysis of variance (FANOVA) was used to examine the effects of gender and age category (35-44, 45-64, and 65-89) on study variables.  Measured variable path analysis was used to investigate the role of eudemonia well-being on the relationship between discrimination and mental health.

 

Results: 

FANOVA found that gender and age have significant main and/or interaction effects on mental health outcomes as much as perceived discrimination.  Middle-aged (45~64) women may be diagnosed more with clinical depression and are more likely to have mentally bad days than other groups. Along with significant difference in everyday discrimination (7.11 versus 4.08), the relatively young (35~44) men’s group is more likely to perceive lifetime discrimination (1.70 versus .55) than older (65~89) women.  In the men’s model (R²= .430), 12% of SF36 mental component can be accounted for by discrimination and 31 % by eudemonia well-being.  The women’s model (R²= .382) was directly influenced by discrimination (13.2%) and by eudemonia well-being (25 %). While the effect of lifetime discrimination was not supportive, everyday discrimination and both self-acceptance and purpose in life were significantly associated with mental health outcomes in both models.

 

Discussion:

This study found that gender and generation membership shape the extent to which African Americans' mental health is related to perceptions of racial discrimination. Interestingly, institutional lifetime and everyday discrimination were much more prevalent for relatively young (35~44) African American men than older African American women. However, only perceived everyday discrimination was statistically significantly associated with the depressive symptoms for both groups. Compromised psychological well-being was a significant mediator. These findings revealed potential pathways linking perceived discrimination to negative health outcomes and underscored themes of psychological strength in the face of race-related adversity. The study findings illustrate why social workers should address racial discrimination in their mental health practice.