Racial Discrimination and Stigma Consciousness Are Associated with Higher Blood Pressure and Hypertension in Minority Men

Abstract

Objective We examined whether lifetime racial discrimination and stigma consciousness (expecting to be stigmatized) are associated with blood pressure in minority and white middle aged and older adult men. Design Participants were 1533 men (mean age=63.2 [SD=7.9, range = 37.4–89.2]; 12.4% black, 7.8% Hispanic, 2.0% other) diagnosed with clinically localized prostate cancer. We separately modeled associations between discrimination/stigma consciousness and blood pressure outcomes for minorities and whites controlling for education, income, employment status, age, marital status, BMI, and recruitment site. Results Minorities reported more racial discrimination and stigma consciousness than Whites (ps<.001). For minorities, having experienced more racial discrimination was associated with having higher diastolic blood pressure (B=0.15, p=.016) and having greater stigma consciousness was associated with greater odds of having hypertension (OR=1.04, p=.047). Greater stigma consciousness was associated with lower systolic blood pressure in Whites (B=−0.24, p=.012). Conclusion Discrimination and stigma consciousness are associated with common risk factors for chronic disease and premature death that disproportionately affect minorities. Findings for stigma consciousness suggest that anticipatory vigilance may be impacting minority health.

The Psychology of Neoliberalism and the Neoliberalism of Psychology

“…Instead, hegemonic perspectives of psychological science, disproportionately informed by White racial sensibilities, tend to portray these tendencies as (excessive) stigma consciousness (Pinel, ), (over)sensitivity about rejection (Mendoza‐Denton, Downey, Purdie, Davis, & Pietrzak, ), or other forms of “perceptual baggage” (Johnson, Simmons, Trawalter, Ferguson, & Reed, , p. 621). Moreover, hegemonic perspectives tend to blame these tendencies—rather than life in a racist society—as the source of undue stress, underperformance, damaged social relationships, and reduced well‐being (Anglin, Greenspoon, Lighty, & Ellman, ; Orom, Sharma, Homish, Underwood, & Homish, ).…”

A Framework for Using eHealth Interventions to Overcome Medical Mistrust Among Sexual Minority Men of Color Living with Chronic Conditions

“…Psychosocial stressors, such as perceived stigma and racism, have led to feelings of mistrust of the health care system and a decreased motivation towards health seeking behaviors. 19,55,58 There is a growing amount of literature finding plausible associations between chronic psychosocial stress from discrimination and subsequent changes in physiological and behavioral responses to disease susceptibility and incidence. 59,60 Sexual minority men of color encounter discrimination for being both a sexual minority and for being a person of color.…”

Subordinated Knowledge as a Tool for Creative Maladjustment and Resistance to Racial Oppression

“…Deviation here refers not only to the descriptive sense of infrequent outlier, but also has connotations of pathology. Research associates tendencies of racism perception with a host of suboptimal outcomes (Brown & Pinel, ; Mendoza‐Denton, Downey, Pudie, Davis, & Pietrzak, ; Pinel & Paulin, ; Schmitt, Branscombe, Postmes, & Garcia, ), perhaps with the implication that people from subordinated groups might have better outcomes if they were not so (hyper)vigilant about the possibility of racism (Anglin, Greenspoon, Lighty, & Ellman, ; Orom, Sharma, Homish, Underwood, & Homish, ).…”