Research on discrimination and health should also attend to the personal & situational factors that might affect the underlying processes. Recent studies suggest that social factors can affect the prevalence and the impact of the discrimination. Borrell et al. (2006) found a positive association between perceived discrimination and SES. However, the larger literature is mixed on this topic (Paradies 2006). Pearlin et al. (2005) emphasize that the consequences of a stressor may vary by SES even if the prevalence of the stressor does not. Inadequate attention has been given to examining interactions between discrimination and SES. The expected patterns are unclear. Discrimination could be more severe for low SES groups because it may be harsher, more easily legitimized and invisible, or it could be more impactful for high SES groups because it could be perceived as a threat to their status (Jackson et al. 2006). Some limited evidence is consistent with higher costs of discrimination among high SES blacks (Forman 2003), but this finding deserves replication.
