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Indicator: Freedom from Discrimination

Data and Data Discussion provided by Communities Count

Figure 2: Percent of Adults Reporting Discrimination by Age, Race, Income, Education and Relationship Status

Figure 3: Percent of Adults Reporting Discrimination by Health Planning Area

Figure 1: Percent of Adults Reporting Discrimination

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Upstream Indicators
  •   Income Distribution --- In the two decades between 1979 and 2007, income has shifted from the four lower income groups to the highest income group.   (view data graph)
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Downstream Indicators
  •   Prevalence of Overweight & Obese Adults --- The proportion of King County adults who are overweight and obese continues to climb. • The combined percent of overweight and obese adults has increased in each of the four regions of King County since 1994.  (view data graph)
  •   Mortality Causes by Race/Ethnicity and Income --- Among the racial/ethnic groups, the total mortality rate between 1990 and 2003 in King County declined significantly for all but American Indian/Alaska Natives but disparities in the age-adjusted death rates between different racial/ethnic groups in King County remained the same.   (view data graph)
  •   Physical and Mental Health Illness --- The percentage of King County adults with severe activity limitation increased between 1998 and 2007. This local finding is consistent with national trends. This local increase corresponds to worsening trends nationally.  (view data graph)
  •   Infant Mortality Rates --- Infant death rates continue to decline. Rates remain highest in high poverty areas and are lower in East Region than other regions in the County.  (view data graph)
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Related Goals

People who suffer discrimination are less likely to make healthy living choices. Discrimination causes unequal access to education and jobs resulting in lower income. It is unlikely that people who feel discriminated against will become attached to a place that is not treating them well.

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Sustainability Snapshot:

Freedom from discrimination at work, school and in public is a moral imperative as well as legal right, yet in 2004 over a quarter of King County adults reported they experienced discrimination within the past year. That number doubles among people of color, the poor and the young. Of adults reporting discrimination, gender was the most common type cited.

Sustainability Trend:

Indicator information is based on three surveys conducted in 2001 2004, and 2007. There were no significant changes over the three survey years for the county as a whole. However, there are differences in reporting of experiencing of discrimination according to age, race/ethnicity,and smaller geographic areas.

Data Discussion

The Indicator Defined

Percent of Adults Who Experienced Any Discrimination in Past Year, King County, 1999, 2001 & 2004.

Data Interpretation/Evaluation

In surveys of King County adults in 1999, 2001 and 2004 discrimination was measured by asking respondents several questions about whether, in the past year, they had “experienced discrimination, been prevented from doing something or been hassled or made to feel inferior by someone else because of race, etc.” in one or more settings.

In 2007, 28% of adults reported that they experienced some type of discrimination in the past year. There were no significant changes over the three survey years for the County. What appears to be a decrease over time in Seattle, and an increase between 2004 and 2007 in the East Region, are not statistically significant changes.

The greatest percentage of people experiencing discrimination was in the South Region, with the lowest percentage in the North Region. These differences are not statistically significant.

Public settings (15%) and on the job (11%) were the most common places for discrimination to occur in 2007. At least 5% of adults reported that they experienced discrimination in getting a job, and/or in getting medical care.

Data Source and Limitations

The discrimination measures are contributed by Communities Count (www.communitiescount.org) and come from the King County Community Health Survey  2001, and 2004, and 2007, which adapted questions on unfair treatment from the CARDIA Study IV (Krieger N, Sidney S “Racial discrimination and blood pressure: The CARDIA Study in young black and white adults.” Am J Public Health 1996; 86:1370-1378.

A limitation of self reported experiences of discrimination is that people’s interpretations of “discrimination” and “unfair” may not be the same. The limitations of a telephone survey include the following: a) people who do not have a telephone are missed, b) people who do not speak English are not included, and c) people who have less education and lower incomes tend to be underrepresented.

 

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