TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional Pathways to the Biological Embodiment of Racial Discrimination Experiences
AU - Hittner, Emily F.
AU - Adam, Emma K.
N1 - Funding Information:
Source of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: Wave 8 of the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study was funded by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant No. R01HD048970 to Jacquelynne Eccles and Stephen Peck, and the wave 8 biomarker data were funded by National Institute of Aging Grant No. RC2AG03678001 to Jacquelynne Eccles, Stephen Peck, Emma K. Adam, Jennifer Richeson, Margaret Kemeny, and Wendy Berry Mendes. Support was also provided by BCS-0843872 and BCS-0921728 to Jennifer Richeson and by faculty fellowships from the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University to Emma K. Adam. Emily F. Hittner is funded through the Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences, Grant Award No. R305B140042). The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - Objective Racial discrimination experiences are common among youth with an ethnic minority background, and such experiences affect health. Stress-sensitive systems like the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been proposed as one mechanism. HPA-axis activity, measured through daily patterns of salivary cortisol, is altered among individuals who experience discrimination. We know little about the day-to-day processes by which discrimination experiences become embodied in stress biology. The HPA axis is responsive to negative social-evaluative (NSE) emotion. The present study investigated whether NSE emotions are a pathway by which discrimination dysregulates HPA-axis functioning as measured by cortisol levels. Methods Perceived discrimination, diurnal cortisol, and changes in NSE emotion were assessed in a sample of 102 young adults. Emotions and cortisol were measured across the day for seven consecutive days in naturalistic settings. Multilevel modeling and regression analyses were used to examine average and day-to-day associations between discrimination, NSE emotion, and cortisol. Mediation and specificity analyses were conducted. Results Discrimination was associated with NSE emotion (β = 0.34, p =.001). Day-to-day changes (β = 0.10, p =.002) and average levels (β = 0.03, p =.013) of NSE emotion were associated with dysregulated cortisol. NSE emotion mediated the association between discrimination and diurnal cortisol slopes (β = 0.10 [95% confidence interval = 0.01-0.21]). Findings were robust for covariates including stressful life events, more pronounced for NSE emotion compared with negative affect at the day level, similar for NSE emotion and general negative affect at the person level, and specific to cortisol slopes. Conclusions Findings suggest that daily NSE and average negative emotions are important pathways by which racial discrimination gets under the skin, or is embodied, in stress biology.
AB - Objective Racial discrimination experiences are common among youth with an ethnic minority background, and such experiences affect health. Stress-sensitive systems like the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been proposed as one mechanism. HPA-axis activity, measured through daily patterns of salivary cortisol, is altered among individuals who experience discrimination. We know little about the day-to-day processes by which discrimination experiences become embodied in stress biology. The HPA axis is responsive to negative social-evaluative (NSE) emotion. The present study investigated whether NSE emotions are a pathway by which discrimination dysregulates HPA-axis functioning as measured by cortisol levels. Methods Perceived discrimination, diurnal cortisol, and changes in NSE emotion were assessed in a sample of 102 young adults. Emotions and cortisol were measured across the day for seven consecutive days in naturalistic settings. Multilevel modeling and regression analyses were used to examine average and day-to-day associations between discrimination, NSE emotion, and cortisol. Mediation and specificity analyses were conducted. Results Discrimination was associated with NSE emotion (β = 0.34, p =.001). Day-to-day changes (β = 0.10, p =.002) and average levels (β = 0.03, p =.013) of NSE emotion were associated with dysregulated cortisol. NSE emotion mediated the association between discrimination and diurnal cortisol slopes (β = 0.10 [95% confidence interval = 0.01-0.21]). Findings were robust for covariates including stressful life events, more pronounced for NSE emotion compared with negative affect at the day level, similar for NSE emotion and general negative affect at the person level, and specific to cortisol slopes. Conclusions Findings suggest that daily NSE and average negative emotions are important pathways by which racial discrimination gets under the skin, or is embodied, in stress biology.
KW - discrimination
KW - diurnal cortisol slope
KW - emotion
KW - shame
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U2 - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000792
DO - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000792
M3 - Article
C2 - 32108742
AN - SCOPUS:85092195473
VL - 82
SP - 420
EP - 431
JO - Psychosomatic Medicine
JF - Psychosomatic Medicine
SN - 0033-3174
IS - 4
ER -