Race, Race-Based Discrimination, and Health Outcomes Among African Americans

Abstract

Persistent and vexing health disadvantages accrue to African Americans despite decades of work to erase the effects of race discrimination in this country. Participating in these efforts, psychologists and other social scientists have hypothesized that African Americans' continuing experiences with racism and discrimination may lie at the root of the many well-documented racebased physical health disparities that affect this population. With newly emerging methodologies in both measurement of contextual factors and functional neuroscience, an opportunity now exists to cleave together a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which discrimination has harmful effects on health. In this article, we review emerging work that locates the cause of racebased health disparities in the external effects of the contextual social space on the internal world of brain functioning and physiologic response. These approaches reflect the growing interdisciplinary nature of psychology in general, and the field of race relations in particular. Keywords racism; Blacks; allostatic load; social exclusion; brain; residential segregation; social cognition; cognitive appraisal; self-regulation The ways in which race, racial prejudice, and race discrimination shape the human experience have long been of interest in psychology and the other social sciences. The purpose of this review is threefold. First, we briefly examine the disconcerting evidence for increasing Black/White disparities in health despite the radical changes over the past 50 years in race-based civil rights in the United States (Walker et al. 2004). Next, we explore the notion that African Americans' continuing experiences with racism, discrimination, and possibly social exclusion may account for some proportion of these health disparities (Clark & Adams 2004;Everson-Rose & Lewis 2005;Guyll et al. 2001;Harrell et al. 2003;Massey 2004;Walker et al. 2004;Williams et al. , 2003. Finally, we focus on three emerging perspectives that locate health disparities in the external influences of social space and the internal effects of body and brain functioning. These latter approaches reflect the growing interdisciplinary nature of research models that attempt to explain the continuing legacy of NIH Public Access

Associations of Discrimination and Violence With Smoking Among Emerging Adults: Differences by Gender and Sexual Orientation

“…across many types of minority populations (Mays, Cochran, & Barnes, 2007;Meyer, 2003b;Williams, Neighbors, & Jackson, 2003). In fact, certain types of victimization, such as intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and traumatic events, can be independent risk factors for continued smoking (Amstadter et al, 2009;Roberts, Fuemmeler, McClernon, & Beckham, 2008;Stueve & O'Donnell, 2007).…”

Retail Redlining in New York City: Racialized Access to Day-to-Day Retail Resources

“…42 Three primary mechanisms through which segregation operates include: (1) the concentration of poverty, (2) constrained access to economic and educational opportunity structures, and (3) neighborhood social and physical environments, including housing quality and the distribution of amenities and retail resources. 16,24,34,35,41,42 These pathways create economic, social, and physical contexts that determine the likelihood of conditions that foster, support, or sustain health.One of the primary constituents of a healthy neighborhood is the provision of public or private services that support people in their daily lives. 21 Public or private services include education, transportation, health care, and retail services.…”

Factors influencing dietary fat intake among black emerging adults

“…The racial disparities in obesity prevalence (CDC, 2011) and fat intake (Wright & Wang, 2010) may also be influenced by the biological toll of repeated exposure to stress related to racism (Adler & Rehkopf, 2008;Mays, Cochran, & Barnes, 2007). Blacks experience greater levels of stress related to racism compared to Whites (Chae, Lincoln, & Jackson, 2011;Mays et al, 2007), including younger populations (Tomiyama, Puterman, Epel, Rehkopf, & Laraia, 2013;Waelde et al, 2010). In this current study, the relationship between stress and DFI was examined.…”

“…The accumulation of perceived stress related to racism could contribute to the individual's "overall stress load", leading to wear and tear of the body (Adler & Rehkopf, 2008;Harrell, 2000). The racial disparities in obesity prevalence (CDC, 2011) and fat intake (Wright & Wang, 2010) may also be influenced by the biological toll of repeated exposure to stress related to racism (Adler & Rehkopf, 2008;Mays, Cochran, & Barnes, 2007). Blacks experience greater levels of stress related to racism compared to Whites (Chae, Lincoln, & Jackson, 2011;Mays et al, 2007), including younger populations (Tomiyama, Puterman, Epel, Rehkopf, & Laraia, 2013;Waelde et al, 2010).…”