Death by a Thousand Cuts: Chronic Strains, Acute Stressors, and Black-White Health Disparities

• In Event: 2455 - Race, Ethnicity, and Mental Health: Critical Issues

Abstract

While research shows that Blacks experience earlier health decline than Whites, critical questions about whether and how racial differences in cumulative stress exposure across the life course contribute to Black-White health inequities in later life remain. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (N=4,773), this study examines the role of racial differences in acute and chronic lifetime stress exposure in producing racial disparities in markers of physiological and psychological well-being at older ages. Findings reveal that Blacks report more generalized and discrimination-related stress than Whites. I also find that while acute stressors show modest associations with the outcomes, exposure to chronic stress is more strongly associated with markers of inflammatory, metabolic, and depressive risk. Together, these findings suggest that the “thousand cuts” that Blacks experience as a result of living in a racially stratified society accelerates their physiological and psychological deterioration relative to their White socioeconomic peers.

Author

• Courtney E. Boen, University of Pennsylvania