The link between discrimination and telomere length in African American adults.

Lee, Daniel B.; Kim, Eric S.; Neblett, Enrique W.

doi:10.1037/hea0000450

Cited by 57 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…The current findings extend the applications of extant stress theories (Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999; Paradies, 2006) and complement previous work showing inverse links between discrimination and specifically, racial discrimination and telomere length (Chae et al, 2014, 2016; Lee et al, 2017; Liu & Kawachi, 2017). They also expand upon prior reports in several ways.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Department of Health and Human Services (2014), highlight the need for research on social statuses and discrimination to further elucidate health disparities. A prior report on discrimination and telomere length (Lee et al, 2017) observed that neither age nor sex moderated the associations between major life discrimination and telomere length in older African Americans. Perhaps concurrently considering age and sex alongside other social statuses may reveal different effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

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Interpersonal-level discrimination indices, sociodemographic factors, and telomere length in African-Americans and Whites

Moody

Leibel

Darden

et al. 2019

Biological Psychology

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Objective: Studies have linked self-reported discrimination to telomere attrition, a biological marker of accelerated cellular aging. However, it is unknown whether intersections between social categories—race, socioeconomic status (SES), sex, and age—influence the association of varying forms of discrimination with telomere length. We examined these associations in a socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse urban sample. Methods: Cross-sectional data were from 341 middle-aged (30–64 years) African American and White, community participants in the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span Study (HANDLS). Multiple regression models examined up to 3-way interactions between a discrimination measure (i.e., everyday, racial, gender, lifetime burden, and frequency of discrimination across sources) and two social categories. Results: After adjusting for depressive symptoms, waist circumference, and lifetime substance use, two themes emerged: 1) among women with higher SES, a) greater lifetime discrimination burden (b = −0.23, p = .011), gender discrimination (b = −0.29, p = .040), and racial discrimination (b = −0.24, p = 0.023) and 2) among younger adults, irrespective of race and sex, greater frequency of discrimination across sources (b = 0.002, p = .008) was associated with shorter telomeres. Conclusions: Irrespective of race, women with higher SES and younger adults reporting greater discrimination may be at particular risk for accelerated aging. Telomere attrition promotes and accelerates chronic health conditions for which there are health disparities. Future research explicating intersections among specific discrimination indices and social categories is warranted.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Interpersonal-level discrimination indices, sociodemographic factors, and telomere length in African-Americans and Whites

Moody

Leibel

Darden

et al. 2019

Biological Psychology

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“…Racial discrimination is also associated with shorter telomere length, which is a marker of aging (27). Racial discrimination is associated with higher levels of nervousness and anger and higher likelihood of evaluating social interactions as harassing (28).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial Discrimination during Adolescence Predicts Mental Health Deterioration in Adulthood: Gender Differences among Blacks

Assari¹,

Moazen‐Zadeh²,

Caldwell³

et al. 2017

Front. Public Health

146

124

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BackgroundDespite the existing knowledge regarding the negative mental health consequences of perceived racial discrimination, very few researchers have used a longitudinal design with long-term follow-up periods to explore gender differences in this association over time.ObjectiveThe current longitudinal study aimed to investigate gender differences in predictive role of an increase in perceived racial discrimination during adolescence for mental health deterioration a decade later when they are transitioning to young adulthood.MethodsCurrent study followed 681 Black youths for 18 years from 1994 (mean age 15) to 2012 (mean age 32). All participants spent their adolescence and transition to young adulthood in an economically disadvantaged urban area in the Midwest of the United States. Independent variable was perceived racial discrimination measured in 1999 and 2002. Outcomes were psychological symptoms (anxiety and depression) measured in 1999 and at end of follow-up (2012). Covariates included sociodemographics (age, family structure, and parental employment) measured in 1994. Gender was used to define groups in a multigroup structural equation model to test moderating effects.ResultsMultigroup structural equation modeling showed that among male Black youth, an increase in perceived racial discrimination from age 20 to 23 was predictive for an increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression from age 20 to 32. Among female Black youth, change in perceived racial discrimination did not predict future change in depressive or anxiety symptoms.ConclusionWhile racial discrimination is associated with negative mental health consequences for both genders, male and female Black youth differ in regard to long-term effects of an increase in perceived discrimination on deterioration of psychological symptoms. Black males seem to be more susceptible than Black females to the psychological effects of an increase in racial discrimination over time.

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“…Other studies have also recently found associations between TL and discrimination (Chae et al, , ;Lee et al, ; Liu & Kawachi, ). Two of these studies only reported significant findings after they added discrimination in a statistical interaction with either depressive symptoms (Chae et al, ) or an internalized anti‐black racial bias (Chae et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Researchers have previously investigated the impact of discrimination stress on TL in African Americans. For example, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) recently found that everyday discrimination (per the Everyday Discrimination Scale‐Short Form; EDS‐SF; Sternthal & Williams, ) was associated with shorter telomeres in African American adults (Lee, Kim, & Neblett, ; Liu & Kawachi, ). The same association was not observed among European Americans enrolled in the HRS (Liu & Kawachi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shortened telomere length is associated with unfair treatment attributed to race in African Americans living in Tallahassee, Florida

Rej

Gravlee²,

Mulligan

2019

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives: Experiences of interpersonal discrimination are pervasive stressors in the lives of African Americans. Increased discrimination stress may cause premature aging. Telomere length (TL) is a plastic genetic trait that is an emerging indicator of cellular health and aging. Short TL is a risk factor for the earlier onset of disease. TL shortens with age, a process that may be accelerated by psychosocial stress. Our study explores the relationship between TL and experiences of discrimination in the form of self-reported unfair treatment (UT). Methods: Using a qPCR-based method, we measured TL in DNA from saliva samples provided by 135 African American adults from Tallahassee, FL. We developed discrimination measures using a modified survey that explores nine social domains of self-reported unfair treatment experienced both directly and indirectly.We used multiple regression to examine associations between UT and TL. Results: We found that racial discrimination in the form of self-reported unfair treatment attributed to race (UT-Race-Self) is inversely associated with TL. Conclusions: The significant association between increased UT-Race-Self and shorter telomeres supports the hypothesis that psychosocial stress stemming from racial discrimination may affect TL. The potential impact of discrimination on TL may contribute to premature biological aging and racial health inequalities seen in African Americans.

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The link between discrimination and telomere length in African American adults.

Cited by 57 publications

References 81 publications

Interpersonal-level discrimination indices, sociodemographic factors, and telomere length in African-Americans and Whites

Interpersonal-level discrimination indices, sociodemographic factors, and telomere length in African-Americans and Whites

Racial Discrimination during Adolescence Predicts Mental Health Deterioration in Adulthood: Gender Differences among Blacks

Shortened telomere length is associated with unfair treatment attributed to race in African Americans living in Tallahassee, Florida

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