Measuring settler colonial discrimination: Jun Xu, Fang Gong, Donghui Wang, ‘The Subtle Burden: Everyday Discrimination and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Self-Rated Health and Happiness in the United States’, Race and Social Problems, 18, 2026, #54 | settler colonial studies blog

Measuring settler colonial discrimination: Jun Xu, Fang Gong, Donghui Wang, ‘The Subtle Burden: Everyday Discrimination and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Self-Rated Health and Happiness in the United States’, Race and Social Problems, 18, 2026, #54

15Sep26

Abstract: Racial/ethnic health disparities remain a persistent problem in the United States, and everyday discrimination is a key psychosocial pathway contributing to these disparities. Prior research has mostly relied on older, nonrepresentative, or single-group data and has rarely tested theory-driven explanations for why associations between discrimination and health vary across racial/ethnic groups. Guided by the minority stress model and settler colonialism framework, we hypothesized that (1) everyday discrimination is associated with poor self-rated health (SRH) and unhappiness, net of sociodemographic controls, and (2) these associations vary by race/ethnicity, with the strongest associations among Hispanic and Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) respondents. This quantitative study used pooled cross-sectional data from four waves (2018–2024) of the General Social Survey (n = 7924), based on nationally representative samples of U.S. adults. We applied logistic regression and causal inference methods, including propensity score matching and double machine learning, to estimate associations between discrimination and SRH/happiness. Findings supported both hypotheses. Everyday discrimination was reported by 74% of respondents and was associated with 62% higher odds of poor SRH and 58% higher odds of unhappiness. Hispanic and AAPI respondents showed the strongest associations between discrimination and SRH. The Black–White unhappiness difference was explained by sociodemographic factors rather than everyday discrimination, whereas American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) respondents showed an SRH disadvantage unexplained by either factor. Everyday discrimination is pervasive and structurally patterned, and its associations with health vary across racial and ethnic groups. Institutional efforts should address exclusive treatment and perpetual foreigner stereotyping affecting both Hispanic and AAPI populations while addressing structural determinants such as socioeconomic inequality among Black Americans. Larger AI/AN samples are needed to identify the mechanisms underlying their SRH disadvantage.

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