Examining the Effect of Self-Rated Health on the Relationship Between Race and Racial Colorblindness in Germany
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Examining the Effect of Self-Rated Health on the Relationship Between Race and Racial Colorblindness in Germany Warsame Osmar 1 Received: 14 February 2020 / Revised: 18 August 2020 / Accepted: 24 August 2020 # W. Montague Cobb-NMA Health Institute 2020
Abstract This exploratory study sought to test the relationship among race, self-rated health (SRH), and colorblindness, conceptualized as the belief that race/ethnicity should not and does not matter. Independently, SRH, a multidimensional concept entailing physical and psychological health and one’s affiliation in an ethnic/racial group, may contribute to racial attitudes. However, little is known about how SRH and racial/ethnic identity in combination may affect colorblind racial attitudes. It was thus hypothesized that SRH would moderate the relationship between race/ethnicity and colorblind racial attitudes. The research sample consisted of 136 autochthonous adults and “individuals with migration backgrounds” residing in Bavaria (Germany), who were divided by self-identified race (whites, n = 85; non-whites, n = 51). The results show that SRH moderates the relationship between race and racial colorblindness. More specifically, it was found that the greater the SRH of the white participants, the less they embraced a colorblind ideology. Conversely, the greater the SRH of the non-white participants, the greater their colorblind racial attitudes. These results suggest that stronger SRH may reduce colorblindness among whites and intensify it among non-whites. The implications of the obtained results may be useful in addressing how surmount barriers to data collection, measurements, and research related to racial and ethnic health disparities in “colorblind” Germany may contribute to health inequalities. Thus, this paper’s contribution lies in tracking such disparities to aid their reduction or elimination. Keywords Self-rated health . Race . Ethnicity . Racial colorblindness . Moderating effect
Introduction A substantial number of epidemiological studies have tested the association between ethno-racial affiliation and attitudes toward social issues. Many of these studies are in accordance with the common observation that racial affiliation is associated with attitudes on racial issues [1]. However, this relationship has yet to be explored in the German context. Trends in racial attitudes and conceptions of racism, such as racial ambivalence (the co-occurrence of anti-discriminatory feelings for and paternalistic, pro-minorities attitudes toward racial outgroups) [2], racial aversion (the avoidance of interactions with people from other racial groups based on assumptions of stereotypes) [3], and colorblindness assume that racialized behavior, through which racial attributes and meanings are projected, is an extension of racial attitudes [4]. Indeed, the * Warsame Osmar [email protected] 1
Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics, Prague (VSE), W. Churchill Sq. 4, 130 67 Prague 3, Czech Republic
colorblind perspective, which refers to a state i
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