UCLA

Extant research has provided support for the immigrant health paradox within the Black community. Specifically, Black immigrants in the United States largely demonstrate better physical and mental health outcomes than U.S-born Black individuals. Investigations of current explanatory hypotheses of the immigrant health paradox have yielded mixed findings and notable limitations. Accordingly, the present research aimed to test a new framework for understanding potential key contributors to the Black immigrant health paradox. This framework employed a social-cognitive approach by integrating a race-conscious lens with system justification beliefs (via the meritocratic worldview or MW), in charting how ideologies may shape perceptions of discrimination, and subsequently, how differences in perceived discrimination might mediate the differential health outcomes between Black immigrants and their American-born counterparts. Two interrelated studies examined and tested the constructs underlying the social-cognitive model (i.e., nativity status, the meritocratic worldview, perceived discrimination) as factors hypothesized as potential mechanisms of the Black immigrant health paradox. Study 1 examined secondary analyses of data from a large nationally representative sample that included Black Americans and Black Caribbean immigrants. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed social-cognitive framework. Findings provided partial support for my hypotheses. MW was significantly related to psychological distress through discrimination, but nativity status did not moderate the relationship. Contrary to my hypothesis, MW did not buffer against psychological distress; instead MW was associated with greater psychological distress. Notably, nativity status moderated the structural relations among MW and physical health. Specifically, MW was significantly associated with poorer physical health (as measured by number of medical conditions) in U.S. Born Black Americans, but there was not a significant association for Black immigrants. Study 2 complemented Study 1 by exploring current Black immigrants’ perspectives on the immigrant health paradox and constructs embedded in the social-cognitive model. Black immigrants reported significant health-related changes after immigrating to the United States. Participants attributed these changes to a confluence of cultural, social, and lifestyle factors alongside anti-Black racism. Collectively, findings from study 1 and study 2 advance understanding of how MW and discrimination influence health among Black communities and help facilitate targeted interventions to support health outcomes in U.S. Born Black Americans and Black immigrants.