Skin Tone and Preferences for Race-Concordant Health Providers among Latines

• In Event: Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) Research Session II

Abstract

Without overt racial hierarchies, research in Latin America has often utilized skin tone to examine inequality. This research has found that individuals with darker skin tones have lower educational attainment and income, and worse health outcomes. Though this line of research has begun to yield similar results in the United States, little attention has been paid to mechanisms associated with poor health outcomes, such as health care. To address this gap, this study merges two waves of the American Trends Panel, Waves 86 and 100. It uses multinomial logistic regression to examine whether respondents’ skin tone predicts a preference for race-concordant health providers. Overall, the results of this study indicate that Latine respondents with darker skin tones perceived Latine health providers as better at looking out for their best interests, treating them with respect, and providing the highest-quality care. Given the shortage of Latine health providers, these findings underscore the importance of improving the patient-provider interactions of individuals with more salient racialized phenotypes.

Author

• Angelica Lopez, Arizona State University-Tempe