Race Related Stressors and Health Disparities Research Program

National Institute On Minority Health And Health Disparities

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

One of the goals of the 'race related stressors and health disparities research program' was to identify the drivers of chronic health disparities that disproportionately affect African descent populations. Perceived Discrimination and Hypertension Risk Among Participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and The role of perceived discrimination in predicting changes in health behaviors among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study were among the manuscripts that were developed during this fiscal year to examine the role of interpersonal discrimination on health conditions and identify the potential mechanisms that may explain the relationship between discrimination and health. #1: The first study examined the associations of everyday and lifetime discrimination with incidence of hypertension and whether these associations varied by sex, discrimination attribution, and racial residential segregation among Black, Hispanic, Chinese, and White adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. This study suggests that lifetime, but not everyday discrimination is associated with incident hypertension in Black Americans. #2:The second study examined whether perceived discrimination (everyday, lifetime) was associated with changes in health behaviors over time and whether associations of discrimination with behaviors varied by attribution of discrimination among African American men and women in the Jackson Heart Study. Discrimination did not predict changes in smoking status or alcohol use. However, discrimination was associated with persistent current smoking status, which may be a potential mechanism through which discrimination impacts the health of African American men and women.