Melting Pot as a Stressor: Neighborhood Racial Diversity, Disorder, and Psychological Distress among Non-Hispanic Whites

• In Event: Race, Gender, and Class Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 4) From Settler Colonialism to the White Right: Neighborhoods, Schools, and Whiteness

Abstract

The US has experienced a significant increase in neighborhood racial/ethnic diversity over recent decades. However, despite literature documenting the harmful health effects of segregation for minorities, less is known about how this long-term surge in racial diversity is experienced by the dominant racial group. By integrating theories of racial ideology with stress process theory, this study examines the relationship between neighborhood racial diversity and psychological distress among non-Hispanic whites (NHWs). We propose that the ideology of whiteness frames racial heterogeneity as a threat to social order, transforming diversity from a neutral demographic fact into a chronic stressor.
Using longitudinal data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study (analytic N = 11,772 person-waves) linked to tract-level Census and American Community Survey data, we test whether racial/ethnic diversity is associated with distress and whether this association is mediated by perceptions of neighborhood social disorder, physical decay, friend support, and perceived discrimination. Random-effects and fixed-effects models reveal that greater neighborhood diversity, and particularly a higher proportion of Hispanic residents, is associated with significantly higher psychological distress among NHWs. Path analysis demonstrates that this relationship is primarily mediated by heightened perceptions of neighborhood social disorder. Contrary to the predictions of the contact hypothesis, the duration of residence does not attenuate this association. Friend support and perceived discrimination do not function as significant mediators.
Our findings suggest that for many NHWs, residential diversity operates as a social stressor through the erosion of perceived social cohesion and safety. This study highlights the role of racial ideology in shaping environmental interpretation and demonstrates that macro-level demographic shifts can have tangible consequences for population mental health, with implications for understanding social cohesion in an increasingly diverse society.

Authors

• Pui Yin Cheung

• Ming Wen, University of Hong Kong

• David Curtis, University of Utah