Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb;64(2):179-185.
doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.09.004. Epub 2018 Nov 6.

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

Vanessa V Volpe  1 , Daniel B Lee  2 , Lori S Hoggard  3 , Danny Rahal  4
Affiliations

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

Vanessa V Volpe et al. J Adolesc Health. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: Racial 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.

Methods: Black 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.

Results: While 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.

Conclusions: This 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.

Keywords: Black Americans; Racial discrimination; Racial identity; Respiratory sinus arrhythmia; Young adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: Authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors listed above wrote the first draft of the manuscript and no form of payment was given to any author to produce the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Moderation of Racial Discrimination and RSA Reactivity by Racial Centrality. Note. RSA = respiratory sinus arrhythmia.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Moderation of Racial Discrimination and RSA Recovery by Racial Centrality. Note. RSA = respiratory sinus arrhythmia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Clark CJ, Alonso A, Spencer RA, Pencina M, Williams K, Everson-Rose SA. Predicted long-term cardiovascular risk among young adults in the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Am J Public Health 2014;104:e108–15. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Williams DR, Neighbors HW, Jackson JS. Racial/ethnic discrimination and health: findings from community studies. Am J Public Health 2003;93:200–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Williams DR, Mohammed SA. Discrimination and racial disparities in health: evidence and needed research. J Behav Med 2009;32:20–47. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hope EC, Hoggard LS, Thomas A. Emerging into adulthood in the face of racial discrimination: Physiological, psychological, and sociopolitical consequences for African American youth. Transl Issues Psychol Sci 2015;1:342–51.
    1. Hill LK, Hoggard LS, Richmond SA, et al. Examining the association between perceived discrimination and heart rate variability in African Americans. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol 2017;23:5–14. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types