Race-based emotional upset and fair or poor health in Black and White men

We examined the relationships between race-based emotional upset (RBEU) (“Within the past 30 days, have you felt emotionally upset, for example angry, sad, or frustrated, as a result of how you were treated based on your race?”), frequent mental distress, and self-rated fair or poor health. Data were from the 8 jurisdictions using the “Reactions to Race” module on the 2004 BRFSS and restricted to men aged 18-64 years who reported their socially assigned race (“How do other people usually classify you in this country?”) to be Black (N = 1,303) or White (N = 8,170). The crude prevalence of RBEU (19.4% vs. 4.4%), frequent mental distress (11.2% vs. 8.4%), and fair or poor health (15.4% vs. 9.9%) was higher for Black men than for White men. The crude association between race and fair or poor health (OR = 1.65, P < 0.0001) was amplified after adjustment for age (OR = 1.91, P < 0.0001), but eliminated after further adjustment for education level, employment status, and marital status (OR = 1.16, P = 0.27). The addition of RBEU to the model further attenuated the relationship between race and fair or poor health (OR = 1.06, P = 0.71). However, RBEU remained an independent predictor of fair or poor health after adjustment for race, age group, education level, employment status, and marital status (OR = 1.85, P = 0.0001) and after further adjustment for frequent mental distress (OR = 1.54, P = 0.0081).