Light Privilege?: Skin Tone Stratification in Health among African Americans

• In Event: 452 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Race and Health

Abstract

Historical and contemporary research has long suggested that skin tone is a significant social marker used by others to evaluate and rank the social position of blacks. Society has generally favored those of lighter skin complexion over their darker-skinned counterparts because of their closer phenotypic resemblance to whites and their assumed superior intellect and social value. While research has documented socioeconomic stratification based on skin tone among African Americans, less attention has been paid to the consequences of skin color for health—in fact, extremely few studies have systematically investigated the relationship between skin tone and health among African Americans. The extent to which skin tone shapes health among African Americans is becoming a particularly critical issue given population trends that are shifting the color line in the U.S. and making skin color an increasingly important marker of inequality and status. This study aims to fill these crucial gaps in the literature by using data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study to systematically investigate skin tone stratification in health across an array of outcomes, including biomarkers, self-rated health, and fatal chronic diseases. Results indicate that dark-skinned women have worse health across multiple measures of health compared to their light-skinned counterparts. These associations are not explained by socioeconomic status, nor are they evident among African American men. The results of the present study shed light on pertinent sources of heterogeneity in health among African Americans.

Author

• Taylor Hargrove, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill