TABLE 2.
—Empirical Studies on the Physiological Effects of Racism and Discrimination
| Study/Sample/Dependent Variable(s) | Nature of Inference | Findings | Comments |
| Self-report correlational studies | |||
| James et al.12; 112 AA men; blood pressure | Marker—explores the impact of several types of work-related stress in a Black sample | DBP elevated in successful, high “John Henryism” men who saw race as an impediment to success vs similar men who viewed race as helpful | Complex finding portends later complicated relationship between reports of discrimination and physiological activity |
| Krieger and Sidney11; 831 AA men, 1143 AA women, 1006 C men, 1106 C women; blood pressure | Invariant—tests for impact of various forms of unfair treatment across Black and White samples | Lower blood pressure in those who report discrimination and challenge unfair treatment | Supports Krieger10; higher pressure in those who fail to report discrimination and are passive when treated unfairly |
| Dressler17; 86 AA men, 100 AA women; blood pressure | Marker—the effects of racism-related stressors (lifestyle incongruity) as well as chronic stress are examined | For participants aged 40–55 years, lifestyle incongruity and chronic stress were positively related to blood pressure | Incongruity measures are saturated with items related to material possessions and are weighted by class status; possibly related to materialism |
| Dressler and Bindon18; 234 AA men, 366 AA women; blood pressure | Marker—possible racism-related stressor (cultural consonance) and other person variables used as predictors | Lifestyle cultural consonance was related to SBP; for both SBP and DBP, “kin support” consonance moderated the relationship between lifestyle consonance and blood pressure | Approach refines analysis of cultural variables by contrasting one’s orientation with community consensus |
| Daniels et al.19; 47 AA women, 43 AA men; blood pressure and heart rate | Marker—relationship between cultural orientation (influenced by cultural racism) and blood pressure along with hostility’s impact was assessed | Tendency to embrace values of mainstream American culture was associated with higher DBP and heart rate, and higher SBP for men; hostility weakly related to heart rate only | Higher hostility scores were associated with embracing cultural values of the mainstream; cultural measure proved to be a superior predictor |
| Basic psychophysiological with self-report of discrimination | |||
| Guyll et al.13; 101 AA women, 262 C women; blood pressure and heart rate | Invariant—Effects of unfair treatment with and without racial discrimination studied in Black and White women | DBP levels of AA women who reported racial discrimination were more reactive to a speech stressor than levels of those who did not | Blood pressure and HR reactivity to a mirror tracer task did not differ as a function of experiences with discrimination |
| Bowen-Reid and Harrell14; 122 women, 33 men; MAP and HR | Outcome—focused on the relationship of recollections of racist experiences with perception of racism’s severity in AA sample exclusively | HR and MAP reactivity to the mirror tracer were inversely related to experiences with racist events; findings did not hold for reactions to a hand-grip task | Higher levels of perceived racial stress associated with reduced HR reactivity, and recent encounters with racism associated with smaller blood pressure changes |
| Basic psychophysiological studies | |||
| Morris-Prather et al.27; 52 AA women, 40 AA men; blood pressure and pulse | Marker— Participants viewed stressful material involving harassment by Black and White officers | SBP and DBP increased as scenes were viewed; pulse rate was not influenced; SBP was more reactive for women; race of perpetrator of stress did not result in differential physiological changes | Affective responses of women to the scenes were more pronounced, but systolic pressure increases of the men tended to be greater; no evidence that responses to the White perpetrator were stronger |
| Kinzie et al.28; 25 Cambodian women, 9 men, 27 Vietnam veterans, 1 woman, 22 “controls,” 15 men; HR | Invariant—Tested PTSD patients (2 ethnicities), control veterans, and nonveterans using scenes related to war, Cambodian war hospital, and domestic violence | Cambodians with PTSD evidenced strongest HR responses to all scenes; material related to specific experiences of Cambodians did not affect Cambodian control group | Employed culturally and historically relevant stressors; self-ratings of mood were sensitive to type of stressor; Cambodians rated the hospital scene most unpleasant |
| Blascovich et al.25; 20 AA, 19 C; blood pressure, MAP | Invariant—High and low stereotype threat conditions (2 stressors) employed with 2 ethnic groups | MAP of AA in the high stereotype threat group was elevated; AA and C in other conditions did not differ | Stereotype threat procedures have been used primarily to study performance differences; initial demonstration of physiological effects |
| Moderated psychophysiological studies | |||
| Sutherland and Harrell26; 62 AA women; corrugator and zygomatic EMG activity, HR, finger pulse volume | Marker—fearful, neutral, and racially noxious imagery employed; AA sample exclusively | Imagining racially noxious and fearful scenes produced increases in corrugator EMG and HR; neutral scenes produced increases in zygomatic EMG; HR responses to racial scenes predicted by type A behavior pattern | Initial demonstration of the laboratory impact of racially noxious scenes on physiological responses; physiological reactions were not related to ability to use mental imagery |
| Armstead et al.23; AA; blood pressure | Marker—racist, anger-provoking, and neutral scenes viewed by AA sample | Greater MAP reactivity to racial stressors than to either neutral or anger-provoking film clips | First evidence of a singular effect of racist material over other forms of stress in the laboratory; “anger-out” was associated with lower SBP during racist scenes |
| McNeilly et al.24; 30 AA women; blood pressure and HR | Marker—Participants debated a racially charged or nonracial issue; AA sample only employed | Debating racial material elicited more pronounced HR and blood pressure responses; elevations in blood pressure were more persistent for the debate of racial material | Availability of a supportive confederate did not affect HR or blood pressure responses to either stressor; for HR and SBP during speaking and listening phases, HR was more reactive to racial topics |
| Jones et al.30; 60 AA women; HR, corrugator EMG, digital blood flow | Outcome—Stressful scenes were 2 forms of racism; AA sample used exclusively | Viewing and imagining subtle and blatant racism elicited increases in corrugator EMG and HR and decreases in digital blood flow | Both imagery and video modes of presentation provoked physiological responses to racism; Afrocentrism, a measure of Black identity, was related to HR changes during subtle racism only |
| Torres and Bowens31; 6 AA men, 11 AA women; blood pressure | Marker—Responses to affect-neutral material, math, and recall of racial incident were measured in an AA sample | All tasks led to increases in SBP; neutral and math increased DBP; no effects of tasks on HR resulted | Tendency to have internalized Black identity scores positively correlated with SBP during recall of racial material and math stress |
| Fang and Myers29; 31 AA males, 31 C males; blood pressure and HR | Invariant—Neutral, racially noxious, and anger-provoking material used; both White and Black participants viewed the film clips | DBP reactivity was greater to racial and angry than to neutral material; DBP responses were similar for racial and anger material; SBP and HR responses to stressful scenes did not differ from neural | SBP and DBP recovery was somewhat slower in individuals with high levels of hostility |
Note. AA = African American; W = White; SBP = systolic blood pressure; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; HR = heart rate; PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder; MAP = mean arterial pressure; EMG = electromyograhic.