Racial Regard and Physical Health Among Low-Income Black Caregivers of Children With and Without Asthma

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between child health, parent racial regard, and parent physical health in 87 African American and Black parents/caregivers of children with and without asthma from a low-income, under-resourced urban area. Participants completed the Private and Public Regard subscales of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) and 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). Parents of children with asthma reported having poorer physical health, while those with higher public and private racial regard reported better physical health. The association between public regard and physical health was surpassed by an interaction of child asthma status and public regard: as public regard decreased, so did physical health, but only for parents raising a child with asthma. Findings suggest that the stresses associated with raising a child with chronic illness and perceiving lower public racial regard may together confer additional risk for poor physical health in African American and Black parents.