McCaughey Centre, Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Feb 14;12:131. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-131.
There is now considerable evidence from around the world that racism is associated with both mental and physical ill-health. However, little is known about the mediating factors between racism and ill-health. This paper investigates relationships between racism and self-assessed mental and physical health among Indigenous Australians as well as potential mediators of these relationships.
A total of 164 adults in the Darwin Region Urban Indigenous Diabetes (DRUID) study completed a validated instrument assessing interpersonal racism and a separate item on discrimination-related stress. Self-assessed health status was measured using the SF-12. Stress, optimism, lack of control, social connections, cultural identity and reactions/responses to interpersonal racism were considered as mediators and moderators of the relationship between racism/discrimination and self-assessed health status.
After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, interpersonal racism was significantly associated with the SF-12 mental (but not the physical) health component. Stress, lack of control and feeling powerless as a reaction to racism emerged as significant mediators of the relationship between racism and general mental health. Similar findings emerged for discrimination-related stress.
Racism/discrimination is significantly associated with poor general mental health among this indigenous population. The mediating factors between racism and mental health identified in this study suggest new approaches to ameliorating the detrimental effects of racism on health. In particular, the importance of reducing racism-related stress, enhancing general levels of mastery, and minimising negative social connections in order to ameliorate the negative consequences of racism.
世界各地有大量证据表明，种族主义与身心健康都有关系。然而，对于种族主义和健康不良之间的中介因素知之甚少。本文调查了种族主义与澳大利亚原住民自我评估的心理健康和身体健康之间的关系，以及这些关系的潜在中介因素。
在达尔文地区城市原住民糖尿病（DRUID）研究中，共有 164 名成年人完成了一项评估人际种族主义的有效工具，以及一项关于与歧视相关的压力的单独项目。使用 SF-12 来衡量自我评估的健康状况。压力、乐观、缺乏控制、社会联系、文化认同以及对人际种族主义的反应/应对方式被视为种族主义/歧视与自我评估健康状况之间关系的中介和调节因素。
在调整了社会人口因素后，人际种族主义与 SF-12 心理健康（而非身体健康）成分显著相关。压力、缺乏控制和感到无能为力作为对种族主义的反应，是种族主义与一般心理健康之间关系的重要中介因素。与歧视相关的压力也有类似的发现。
在这个原住民群体中，种族主义/歧视与一般心理健康不良显著相关。本研究确定的种族主义与心理健康之间的中介因素表明，需要采取新的方法来减轻种族主义对健康的不利影响。特别是，需要减少与种族主义相关的压力，提高总体掌控感，并尽量减少负面的社会联系，以减轻种族主义的负面影响。
