# Healthcare stereotype threat, health disparities, and minority aging

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2020 · $129,492

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Health disparities among aging African Americans and Latinos are substantial and persistent. 1 With large
segments of these populations living in poverty, healthcare access and quality are major contributors to their
disproportionate burdens of disease, disability, and death. Yet, African American and Latino later life health
disparities persist even in higher socioeconomic contexts. 2 This suggests that, in addition to economic
barriers, there are psychosocial barriers to healthcare resource use, or utilization, and, thus, good health
among aging minorities. The purpose of the proposed career development and research is to provide new
understanding of later life health disparities by examining a previously overlooked psychosocial barrier to care
among aging minorities, namely healthcare stereotype threat (HCST), 3-9 and how it can be ameliorated.
Stereotype threat is the threat of being personally reduced to a group stereotype, 10-13 which can lead
individuals to avoid stereotype-relevant domains. 10-12 For example, females have been shown to avoid STEM
fields, leadership roles, and other stereotypically male domains to avoid stereotypes of inferiority and their
negative social and psychological consequences. 14,15 My central hypothesis is that stereotypes regarding
unhealthy lifestyles, low status, and inferior intelligence are salient for aging minorities in healthcare settings
and influence healthcare resource use and health outcomes. The first of its kind, the proposed research will
investigate the research questions of whether and how HCST contributes to disparities in healthcare
resource use and health in aging African Americans and Latinos as compared to Whites. The approach is
informed by Stereotype Threat Theory3,9,10,16,17 and my Culture and Social Identity Health Theory. 18 Specific
Aims are threefold: (1) To document the association of ethnicity/race-based and age-based HCST to cross-
sectional and longitudinal healthcare resource use and health outcomes among African American, Latino, and
White older adults; (2) To use randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine economic and other moderators of
the link between HCST and perceptions of the healthcare environment, including healthcare resource quality;
and (3) To use RCT to examine how matching patients and physicians on race/ethnicity and/or age impacts
the association between HCST and perceptions of healthcare resource quality. The proposed research
design consists of three studies, employs a combination of survey and experimental methods, and involves
both primary data collection and secondary data analysis. An assistant professor of Gerontology and
Psychology at the University of Southern California, I (Candidate: Abdou) possess interdisciplinary expertise in
psychology, social epidemiology, population health, and lifespan and intergenerational health disparities. This
NIA K01 will provide the unique opportunity to augment my current expertise with training in hea...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9904318
- **Project number:** 5K01AG051756-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Cleopatra Miriam Abdou
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $129,492
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-15 → 2021-02-26

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9904318

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9904318, Healthcare stereotype threat, health disparities, and minority aging (5K01AG051756-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9904318. Licensed CC0.

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