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Abstract:
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Health disparities often exist in those with marginalized identities, especially among those experiencing discrimination. According to the American Psychological Association, discrimination is frequently associated with elevated stress which could impact mental wellbeing, relationships, employment, and overall health. The study’s aim is to explore whether membership in various marginalized identities significantly impacts social behaviors. We explored six behavioral characteristics, three of which presented the participant’s perception of how they are treated by society such as whether people generally get what they deserve, whether they are fairly treated by people and receiving help from people in general. The other three behavioral characteristics were related to how the participants interact with society, such as whether people can be trusted, their participation in social activities compared to people of the same age, and frequency of meeting friends/family. Five out of six social behaviors, all except frequency of meeting friends/family, were found to be significantly associated with the self-identified belonging to a marginalized identity while controlling for age, gender, and country. On further exploration of the various identities, those experiencing ableism, ethnic racism, and gender racism, rated themselves significantly lower on average, lesser than 1 point on a 0-10 scale, lesser than 0.7 points on a 1-7 scale, and lesser than 0.5 points on a 1-5 scale, against each of the five social behaviors. Discrimination on race, age, nationality, religion, language, and sexuality yielded a smaller impact.
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