The weight of racism: Vigilance and racial inequalities in weight-related measures

In the United States, racial/ethnic inequalities in obesity are well-documented, particularly among women. Using the Chicago Community Adult Health Study, a probability-based sample in 2001–2003 (N = 3105), we examined the roles of discrimination and vigilance in racial inequalities in two weight-related measures, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), viewed through a cultural racism lens. Cultural racism creates a social environment in which Black Americans bear the stigma burden of their racial group while White Americans are allowed to view themselves as individuals. We propose that in this context, interpersonal discrimination holds a different meaning for Blacks and Whites, while vigilance captures the coping style for Blacks who carry the stigma burden of the racial group. By placing discrimination and vigilance within the context of cultural racism, we operationalize existing survey measures and utilize statistical models to clarify the ambiguous associations between discrimination and weight-related inequalities in the extant literature. Multivariate models were estimated for BMI and WC separately and were stratified by gender. Black women had higher mean BMI and WC than any other group, as well as highest levels of vigilance. White women did not show an association between vigilance and WC but did show a strong positive association between discrimination and WC. Conversely, Black women displayed an association between vigilance and WC, but not between discrimination and WC. These results demonstrate that vigilance and discrimination may hold different meanings for obesity by ethnoracial group that are concealed when all women are examined together and viewed without considering a cultural racism lens.