Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Structural Racism and Health Stratification: Connecting Theory to Measurement.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Brown, TH; Homan, P
Published in: Journal of health and social behavior
March 2024

Less than 1% of studies on racialized health inequities have empirically examined their root cause: structural racism. Moreover, there has been a disconnect between the conceptualization and measurement of structural racism. This study advances the field by (1) distilling central tenets of theories of structural racism to inform measurement approaches, (2) conceptualizing U.S. states as racializing institutional actors shaping health, (3) developing a novel latent measure of structural racism in states, (4) using multilevel models to quantify the association between structural racism and five individual-level health outcomes among respondents from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 9,020) and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N = 308,029), and (5) making our measure of structural racism publicly available to catalyze research. Results show that structural racism is consistently associated with worse health for Black people but not White people. We conclude by highlighting this study's contributions (theoretical, methodological, and substantive) and important avenues for future research on the topic.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Journal of health and social behavior

DOI

EISSN

2150-6000

ISSN

0022-1465

Publication Date

March 2024

Volume

65

Issue

1

Start / End Page

141 / 160

Related Subject Headings

  • White
  • Systemic Racism
  • Public Health
  • Humans
  • Health Status Disparities
  • Black or African American
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 4410 Sociology
  • 1701 Psychology
  • 1117 Public Health and Health Services
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Brown, T. H., & Homan, P. (2024). Structural Racism and Health Stratification: Connecting Theory to Measurement. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 65(1), 141–160. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221465231222924
Brown, Tyson H., and Patricia Homan. “Structural Racism and Health Stratification: Connecting Theory to Measurement.Journal of Health and Social Behavior 65, no. 1 (March 2024): 141–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221465231222924.
Brown TH, Homan P. Structural Racism and Health Stratification: Connecting Theory to Measurement. Journal of health and social behavior. 2024 Mar;65(1):141–60.
Brown, Tyson H., and Patricia Homan. “Structural Racism and Health Stratification: Connecting Theory to Measurement.Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 65, no. 1, Mar. 2024, pp. 141–60. Epmc, doi:10.1177/00221465231222924.
Brown TH, Homan P. Structural Racism and Health Stratification: Connecting Theory to Measurement. Journal of health and social behavior. 2024 Mar;65(1):141–160.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of health and social behavior

DOI

EISSN

2150-6000

ISSN

0022-1465

Publication Date

March 2024

Volume

65

Issue

1

Start / End Page

141 / 160

Related Subject Headings

  • White
  • Systemic Racism
  • Public Health
  • Humans
  • Health Status Disparities
  • Black or African American
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 4410 Sociology
  • 1701 Psychology
  • 1117 Public Health and Health Services