During the COVID-19 pandemic and the years that have followed, several studies have found the pandemic exacerbated the persistent racial healthcare disparities facing Black Americans and other Americans of color. However, people from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups are often underrepresented in scientific efforts to understand these disparities. A new study led by scholars at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, explores the consequences of omitting those perspectives.
The study authors conducted a series of two survey experiments between August 2023 and January 2024 with a total sample size of about 9,500 American adults. The participants were randomly assigned to view either a message simply describing the impact of COVID on racial health disparities or the same message with added context about the structural factors underlying the disparities, such as longstanding patterns of discrimination. After reading one of the two messages, participants responded to a series of questions or statements that revealed their beliefs about causes and accountability for the racial disparities, their emotional responses, and their support and intentions to advocate for COVID mitigation policies.
Overall, participants from historically marginalized groups, and Black Americans in particular, were the most afraid of COVID, supportive of COVID mitigation politics, and willing to engage in individual and collective efforts to address health disparities, regardless of the message they viewed. However, the authors found no evidence of “backlash” from White participants who viewed the message with added context on structural drivers of health disparities – a contrary finding to frequent claims about the dangers of talking about racial inequality. Although people of color were more likely to fear COVID and support efforts to address disparities, most observed message effects were consistent across all racial groups.
“Quantitative researchers have spent decades documenting dispiriting statistics about population health disparities; these disparities have been notoriously difficult to change,” the authors write. “The participants in our studies, however, revealed a potential pathway for change. Their pattern of responses suggests that one potential way to address persistent disparities is to study the experiences of the other Americans who suffer most from them. Learning about their concerns and their willingness to mobilize to address these issues suggests it may be possible to create ‘miracles of opportunity’ that can improve the health and well-being of all people.”
In addition to authors from Cornell, the research team included scholars from the University of Florida, the University of Minnesota, and Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
