Work

Structural Intersectionality as a New Direction for Health Disparities Research

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: This article advances the field by integrating insights from intersectionality perspectives with the emerging literatures on structural racism and structural sexism—which point to promising new ways to measure systems of inequality at a macro level—to introduce a structural intersectionality approach to population health. We demonstrate an application of structural intersectionality using administrative data representing macrolevel structural racism, structural sexism, and income inequality in U.S. states linked to individual data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate multilevel models (N = 420,644 individuals nested in 76 state-years) investigating how intersecting dimensions of structural oppression shape health. Analyses show that these structural inequalities: (1) vary considerably across U.S. states, (2) intersect in numerous ways but do not strongly or positively covary, (3) individually and jointly shape health, and (4) are most consistently associated with poor health for black women. We conclude by outlining an agenda for future research on structural intersectionality and health.

Source: Journal of Health and Social Behavior

DOI: 10.1177/00221465211032947

Authors: Patricia Homan, Tyson H. Brown, Brittany King

Institutions: Florida State University, Duke University

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Health, and Social Inequality

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute on Aging, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development