University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, NC 27599-7440, USA.
J Aging Health. 2012 Sep;24(6):1018-43. doi: 10.1177/0898264312440322. Epub 2012 Mar 26.
Discrimination may contribute to health disparities among older adults. Existing measures of perceived discrimination have provided important insights but may have limitations when used in studies of older adults. This article illustrates the process of assessing the appropriateness of existing measures for theory-based research on perceived discrimination and health.
First, we describe three theoretical frameworks that are relevant to the study of perceived discrimination and health-stress-process models, life course models, and the Public Health Critical Race (PHCR) praxis. We then review four widely-used measures of discrimination, comparing their content and describing how well they address key aspects of each framework, and discussing potential areas of modification.
Using theory to guide measure selection can help improve understanding of how perceived discrimination may contribute to racial/ethnic health disparities among older adults.
歧视可能导致老年人健康差距的出现。现有的感知歧视测量方法提供了重要的见解，但在研究老年人时可能存在局限性。本文说明了评估现有感知歧视测量方法用于基于理论的感知歧视和健康研究的适宜性的过程。
首先，我们描述了与感知歧视和健康相关的三个理论框架——压力过程模型、生命历程模型和公共卫生关键种族（PHCR）实践。然后，我们回顾了四种广泛使用的歧视测量方法，比较了它们的内容，并描述了它们在多大程度上解决了每个框架的关键方面，并讨论了潜在的修改领域。
使用理论来指导测量方法的选择可以帮助我们更好地理解感知歧视如何导致老年人中种族/族裔健康差距的出现。
