Racial discrimination and health among two generations of African American couples

Abstract

The current study extends research on the detrimental health implications of racial discrimination by examining how these implications reverberate across romantic relationships. Using two generations of different-gender romantic couples from the Family and Community Health Study, we examined how racial discrimination experienced by a romantic partner was associated with poor health among Black adults, independent of one's own level of racial discrimination. Results from the actor-partner interdependence model showed that beyond the effects of socioeconomic status, health behavior, relationship satisfaction, and own experiences of racial discrimination, a romantic partner's experiences of discrimination were associated with increased psychological distress for both the middle/older-age generation and the young-adult generation. Further, in the middle/older-age generation, partners' experiences of racial discrimination were associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, particularly for men. These results reiterate recent findings that researchers may underestimate the impact of racial discrimination on health when we fail to consider linked lives. Further, they indicate that there may be gender and generational differences in the individual and relational implications of racial discrimination on health.