Unpacking Racial Discrimination: An Examination of the Processes and Consequences Involved in the Experience of Racial Discrimination.

Racial discrimination is a common experience for many African Americans and has been implicated in the Black-White disparities in physical health outcomes. While it is clear that racial discrimination is linked to negative outcomes, the processes by which racial discrimination is linked to these outcomes is unclear. The dissertation uses a process-focused framework that focuses on interpretative and racial identity (attitudes about the meaning and significance of race) factors. Moreover, the dissertation examines how African Americans respond to an actual racial discrimination event across two days thereby allowing for the examination of how responses unfold over time. African American women were recruited from a large public university in the Midwest. On day 1, the participants arrived at the laboratory and were treated as if they are intellectually inferior by a White or African American confederate. The participants then reported their emotions and had their heart rate and blood pressure activity monitored. The participants returned to the laboratory approximately 24 hours later to provide additional emotional and physiological data and report on their experiences with the event. To test the relations among the key study variables, a series of univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA), ordinary linear regression, and moderated mediation models were estimated. The findings revealed that the African American women who experienced the event as being more race-related reported being more angry, tense, and depressed than those who experienced the event as being less race-related (or not at all). Moreover, individuals who reported being highly race central and who experienced the event as being less race-related (or not at all) reported experiencing the most tension shortly after the unfair treatment and the most happiness on day 2. Finally, the findings suggest that the mechanisms by which causal attributions impact the emotional and physiological outcomes varied based on individuals’ racial identity attitudes. The study findings suggest that racial discrimination may be experienced more negatively than non-race-related stressors. Moreover, the findings suggest that the processes that explicate the link between racial discrimination experiences and its consequences are complex. The implications of the findings are discussed.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102437/1/lhoggard_1.pd

Examining the association between perceived discrimination and heart rate variability in African Americans.

Previous research attempting to delineate the role of discrimination in racial/ethnic disparities in hypertension has focused largely on blood pressure, which is chiefly governed by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Consequently, few studies have considered the role of the parasympathetic branch and particularly its regulation of the heart via the vagus nerve

Racial Discrimination and Acute Physiological Responses Among Black Young Adults: The Role of Racial Identity

PurposeRacial discrimination has long-term consequences for cardiovascular health, potentially by dysregulating acute physiological responses. However, the role of psychological factors that may be protective or increase vulnerability for dysregulated responses, such as racial identity, remains unclear. This study examines the association between racial discrimination and acute parasympathetic responses, and the role of racial centrality, private regard, and public regard in this association.MethodsBlack young adults (N = 119, Mage = 19.45) recruited from a predominantly White institution in the southeastern United States completed an online survey (in which racial discrimination, racial identity, and control variables were reported) and a laboratory visit, during which they were exposed to a vignette of racial discrimination while their parasympathetic activity (indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia) was recorded.ResultsWhile racial discrimination was not associated with respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity or recovery, centrality moderated this association such that more frequent racial discrimination was associated with greater parasympathetic reactivity and recovery only among participants low in racial centrality. Neither private regard nor public regard emerged as significant moderators.ConclusionsThis study is the first to show that lower levels of racial centrality can mitigate the association between discrimination and acute parasympathetic responses, which has important implications for initiatives aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk for Black young adults

Appendix

Introduction. Chronic diseases are common among African Americans, but the extent to which research has focused on addressing chronic diseases across multiple members of African American families is unclear. This systematic scoping review summarizes the characteristics of research addressing coexisting chronic conditions among African American families, including guiding theories, conditions studied, types of relationships, study outcomes, and intervention research. Methods. The literature search was conducted in PsycInfo, PubMed, Social Work Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, CINAHL, and Family and Society Studies Worldwide to identify relevant articles published from January 2000 through September 2016. We screened the title and abstracts of 9,170 articles, followed by full-text screening of 530 articles, resulting in a final sample of 114 articles. Fifty-seven percent (n = 65) of the articles cited a guiding theory/framework, with psychological theories (eg, social cognitive theory, transtheoretical model) being most prominent. The most common conditions studied in families were depression (70.2%), anxiety (23.7%), and diabetes (22.8%), with most articles focusing on a combination of physical and mental health conditions (47.4%). Results. Adult family members were primarily the index person (71.1%). The index condition, when observed (79.8%), was more likely to be a physical health condition (46.5%) than a mental health condition (29.8%). Immediate family relationships were overwhelmingly represented (85.4%); however, extended family (12.0%) and fictive kin (0.58%) were included. Most (57.0%) studies focused on a single category of outcomes, such as physical health (eg, obesity, glycemic control), mental health (eg, depression, anxiety, distress), psychosocial outcomes (eg, social support, caregiver burden), or behavioral outcomes (eg, medication adherence, disease management, health care utilization); however, 43.0% of studies focused on outcomes across multiple categories. Sixteen intervention articles (14.0%) were identified, with depression the most common condition of interest. Conclusion. We discuss research gaps and implications for future research addressing family comorbidity and family multimorbidity.This work was supported by the NCI-funded Cancer Health Disparities Training Program (T32CA128582), NIH Loan Repayment Program (L60 MD011052), the Center for Health Equity Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a grant from the National Institutes of Health (P30 AG015281) and the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (Ellis), a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (2R25HL126145), an NHLBI K24 award (K24 HL105493) and an NIH/NCATS grant to the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Science Institute (UL1 TR-000083; Young).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163506/1/Appendix - Ellis et al. Chronic Disease in African American Families.pdfDescription of Appendix - Ellis et al. Chronic Disease in African American Families.pdf : AppendixSEL

Standing on the shoulders of a giant: The legacy of Robert M. Sellers

Robert M. Sellers, PhD, most known for his influential and highly cited Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI), is one of the most prolific and foundational Black scholars in psychology. From racial identity theory development and measurement to conceptual and methodological innovations in studying the lived experiences of Black people, Sellers' scholarship centers on the lives of Black communities. Sellers' mentorship and contributions to the professional development of scholars and professionals of color have supported and catalyzed new intergenerational knowledge building by these scholars, ensuring a perpetuating and far-reaching legacy in psychology. In this article, we: (a) celebrate Sellers' enduring contribution to the racial identity literature and its profound impact on psychology as a discipline as well as numerous subfields of psychology, (b) outline his contributions to the racial socialization literature, (c) describe methodological innovations in racial identity and racial socialization research advanced through his scholarship, and (d) summarize his contributions in professional development and mentorship and his leadership roles. Sellers' scholarly contributions and mentorship have transformed the discipline of psychology and the social sciences broadly speaking, making him one of the most influential psychologists in the modern era. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)