of African American young adults, skin color was unrelated to reports of discrimination (Borrell et al. 2007). Insufficient research attention has been given to the relationship of skin color to discrimination in recent research that would allow conclusions regarding either secular change in the association over time, or the identification of the conditions under which particular patterns are more or less likely to be evident. Some evidence indicates that skin tone continues to matter for the earnings of African Americans (Goldsmith et al. 2007), but it is unclear if there have been secular changes in its role as a marker for discrimination. Future research needs to examine the extent to which multiple social statuses combine to affect both the levels of exposure to discrimination and the effects that discrimination can have on health.
