David R. Williams

TL;DR: Findings underscore the need for research efforts to identify the complex ways in which economic and non-economic forms of discrimination relate to each other and combine with socio-economic position and other risk factors and resources to affect health.

TL;DR: Advancing the understanding of the relationship between perceived discrimination and health will require more attention to situating discrimination within the context of other health-relevant aspects of racism, measuring it comprehensively and accurately, assessing its stressful dimensions, and identifying the mechanisms that link discrimination to health.

TL;DR: Concepts and methodologies concerning, and guidelines for measuring, social class and other aspects of socioeconomic position (e.g. income, poverty, deprivation, wealth, education) are discussed.

TL;DR: The authors review the available empirical evidence and indicates that discrimination is associated with multiple indicators of poorer physical and, especially, mental health status, but the extant research does not adequately address whether and how exposure to discrimination leads to increased risk of disease.

TL;DR: Results show that perceived discrimination is common in the total population, and given its high prevalence, wide distribution, and strong associations with mental health, perceived discrimination needs to be treated much more seriously than in the past in future studies of stress and mental health.