ABSTRACT In the past two decades, the number of African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants arriving in the U.S. has been increasing. Black immigrants (36% of whom migrated from Africa and 50% from the Caribbean since 2000) now account for nearly 10% of the Black population in the U.S. This growing demographic shift within the Black community is diversifying the health of this population. Despite this increase, there is a gap in the research when it comes to discriminatory experiences and health of this population. The purpose of my study was to research how the perceived health of African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants living in the U.S. is influenced by their immigration status and their experiences with interpersonal and institutional discrimination. My study surveyed 131 African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the U.S. who had lived here for a minimum of 6 months, were between the ages of 18-65, and had migrated at age 10 or later from Africa, the Caribbean, or the West Indies. Participants reported on their perceived health status, their frequency of exposure to interpersonal and institutional discrimination, and their immigration status. Two of my predictors (interpersonal and institutional discrimination) suggested a negative correlation with self-reported health status. A hierarchical regression (controlling for demographics) did not find statistical significance. My analysis did not find a statistically significant relationship between discrimination (interpersonal or institutional) and health, and did not find a statistically significant relationship with immigration status. Future work should test these findings on a larger more heterogenous sample. My project offer much needed information on the health, discriminatory experiences, and immigrant background of African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants and may help to inform healthcare leaders as to how to address the health of a diversifying Black community.

Creator

• Jean-Pierre, Phoebe Anne-Alexandra

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-b30b-ec52

Subject

• Communication

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• etdadmin_upload_794329
• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:15458

Keyword

• immigration
• race
• heath

Date created

• 2021-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright