Objective Two studies examined the impact of racial discrimination on HIV-risk (substance use and risky sex) behaviors (Study 1) and cognitions (Study 2) among African Americans. Methods Study 1 examined longer-term effects of cumulative discrimination on HIV-risk behaviors among 833 adolescents. In Study 2, Black young adults were excluded or included in an online game (Cyberball) by White peers. Results Study 1 revealed that discrimination was associated with greater HIV-risk behaviors contemporaneously, and with an increase in these behaviors over a three-year period. In Study 2, excluded participants tended to attribute their exclusion to racial discrimination and reported greater risky sex and substance use willingness. In Study 1, the relation between discrimination and risky sex was mediated by substance use behavior. In Study 2, substance use willingness mediated the relation between perceived discrimination and risky sex willingness. Conclusions Findings highlight the importance of examining the effects of discrimination on HIV-risk among Black youth. The studies also demonstrate the utility of assessing social-psychological processes when examining the effects of discrimination on HIV-risk cognitions and behavior.

Racial discrimination is associated with alcohol use and risky sex cognitions and behaviors, which are risk factors for negative health outcomes, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The current study investigated the causal impact of racial discrimination on alcohol and sexual-risk cognitions while exploring potential mediators that might help explain this relation: negative affect, perceived control, and meaningful existence. We also examined if past discrimination impacts the strength of (moderates) these effects. Participants were 287 Black/African American young adults aged 18 to 25. They were randomly assigned to be excluded or included by White peers via the game Cyberball. Racial exclusion (vs. inclusion) predicted greater: perceived racial discrimination, negative affect, alcohol use willingness, and reduced perceived control and meaningful existence. Furthermore, excluded participants who experienced more past racial discrimination reported the lowest perceived control, and greatest negative affect and alcohol-risk cognitions. The findings suggest that past racial discrimination exacerbates the harmful health effects of immediate experiences of discrimination.

Objective Unfair treatment may have a detrimental effect on cardiovascular health. However, little research on chronic health outcomes employs cumulative measures of unfair treatment. We tested whether cumulative unfair treatment was associated with greater subclinical cardiovascular disease in a diverse sample of African American, Caucasian, Chinese, and Hispanic women. We also examined whether this relationship varied by race. Method The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation is a longitudinal study of midlife women. Cumulative unfair treatment was calculated as the average of unfair treatment assessed over 10 years at 6 time points. Subclinical cardiovascular disease, specifically carotid intima media thickness and adventitial diameter, was assessed via carotid ultrasound conducted at study year 12 in 1056 women. We tested whether cumulative unfair treatment was related to subclinical cardiovascular disease via linear regression, controlling for demographic factors including socioeconomic status and cardiovascular risk factors. Results The relation between unfair treatment and subclinical cardiovascular disease significantly varied by race (ps < .05), with unfair treatment related to higher intima media thickness (B = .03, SE = .01, p = .009) and adventitial diameter (B = .02, SE = .009, p = .013) among Caucasian women only. No significant relations between unfair treatment and subclinical cardiovascular disease outcomes were observed for African American, Hispanic, and Chinese women. Conclusions Our findings indicate that cumulative unfair treatment is related to worse subclinical cardiovascular disease among Caucasian women. These findings add to the growing literature showing that Caucasian women’s experience of unfair treatment may have detrimental health implications.

Objective: Racial discrimination is a common experience for African Americans, but no research has examined how discrimination reported in daily-life moments influences concurrent negative emotions and psychosocial resources. Method: Emerging adult African Americans (N ϭ 54) reported hourly on momentary racial discrimination, negative emotions, and psychosocial resources across two days. Results: Controlling for past discrimination and trait emotion, momentary racial discrimination was associated with greater negative emotions and lower psychosocial resources (ps Ͻ .05). The relationship between momentary racial discrimination and negative emotions was stronger among individuals residing in areas with fewer African Americans (simple slope p Ͻ .0001). The relationship between momentary racial discrimination and psychosocial resources was stronger among individuals reporting greater past discrimination (simple slope p Ͻ .0001). Vicarious discrimination (exposure to discrimination experienced by another person) was associated with higher negative emotions (p Ͻ .01), but not with psychosocial resources. Conclusion: These results are the first to demonstrate that personal and vicarious racial discrimination are associated with negative emotions and lower coping resources in daily-life moments and that contextual factors modify these associations. Results refine our understanding of the immediate sequelae of discrimination in daily life and point to possible targets for ecological momentary interventions. Public Significance StatementPersonal and vicarious exposure to discrimination are becoming more ubiquitous, but little is known about how emerging adult (18 -30 years old) African Americans feel when discrimination happens to them during their daily lives. Across two days, instances of discrimination were common and were more likely to occur at work. Personal and vicarious discrimination associated with both negative emotions and lower coping resources in daily-life moments. Results suggest a double burden of discrimination when experienced in the moment and provide insight into how discrimination may impact physical health and future interventions to reduce the emotional impact of discrimination in the moment it occurs.

Summary Inter-individual variability in metrics of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) activity, such as the slope of the diurnal decline in cortisol, cortisol awakening response (CAR), and total cortisol output, have been found to associate inversely with trait ratings of extraversion and positive affect (E/PA) and positively with neuroticism and negative affect (N/NA) in some, but not all, investigations. These inconsistencies may partly reflect varied intensity of cortisol sampling among studies and reliance on self-rated traits, which are subject to reporting biases and limitations of introspection. Here, we further examined dispositional correlates of HPA activity in 490 healthy, employed midlife volunteers (M age= 43 years; 54% Female; 86% white). Trait ratings were requested from participants and 2 participant-elected informants using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and Extraversion and Neuroticism dimensions of NEO personality inventories. CAR was assessed as percent increase in cortisol levels from awakening to 30 minutes after awakening; and the diurnal slope and total output of cortisol [Area Under the Curve (AUC)] were determined from cortisol measurements taken at awakening, +4 and +9 hours later, and bedtime, across 3 workdays. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate multi-informant E/PA and N/NA factors. We used 3 days of measurement as indicators to model each of the three latent cortisol factors (slope, CAR, and AUC). With the two latent emotionality and three latent cortisol indices included there was good fit to the data (χ2(200)= 278.38, p= .0002; RMSEA= .028, 90% CI= .02–.04; CFI/TLI= .97/.96; SRMR= .04). After controlling for covariates (age, sex, race), results showed higher latent E/PA associated with a steeper diurnal slope (Standardized β= −.19, p= .02) and smaller CAR (Standardized β= −.26, p= .004), whereas N/NA did not associate with any cortisol metric (Standardized β’s= −.12 to .13, p’s= .10 to .53). These findings suggest that positive emotionality may be more closely associated with indices of diurnal cortisol release than negative emotionality.

Public health information and educational interventions regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) have focused on the link between vaginal sex and cervical cancer among women. Many people are unaware that HPV can be transmitted through oral sex or that HPV causes oral cancers. Given that HPV infections and unprotected oral sex are increasing, research on oral sex-related HPV risk is important. This study examined the effect of a brief informational intervention regarding HPV and oral sex on the sexual risk cognitions of young adults. College students (N = 238) read information on HPV, oral sex, and oral cancer or no information. Participants then completed measures of oral sex and HPV knowledge, oral sex willingness, HPV vaccination likelihood, and risk perceptions. Participants who read the information on HPV and oral sex and cancer (compared to those who did not) reported greater knowledge, perceived risk and concern, and lower willingness to engage in oral sex. These effects were only significant among women. However, men reported a higher likelihood of future HPV vaccination compared to women who had not yet received the vaccine. Focusing on oral sex and cancer, this study adds to research investigating ways to reduce HPV infections.

This study examined the impact of ultraviolet (UV) photography, cognition versus affect, and age on women's sun-related cognitions and a proxy measure of sun protection behavior. Participants (N = 114) were recruited via public advertisements and came to the lab to view a photo showing their UV damage. In addition, some participants received instructions to focus on either their thoughts (cognition) or feelings (affect) about their photograph before completing the survey. Women in the affect condition reported the lowest perceived vulnerability to skin cancer and highest absent/exempt beliefs (beliefs that one is unlikely to develop skin cancer if she hasn't already). Condition by age interactions showed that, among those in the cognition and control (no instructions) conditions, older women reported higher perceived vulnerability and lower absent/exempt beliefs, and took more sunscreen than younger women. However, older women reported higher absent/exempt beliefs and higher sun-risk willingness than younger women in the affect condition.

, S. (2016). Past racial discrimination exacerbates the effects of racial exclusion on negative affect, perceived control, and alcohol-risk cognitions among Black young adults.