Recent Research on How Experiencing Racial Discrimination Impacts Health

Agbonlahor, O., DeJarnett, N., Hart, J. L., Bhatnagar, A., McLeish, A. C., & Walker, K. L. (2024). Racial/Ethnic discrimination and cardiometabolic diseases: A systematic review. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 11(2), 783–807.

Allen, A. M., Thomas, M. D., Michaels, E. K., Reeves, A. N., Okoye, U., Price, M. M., Hasson, R. E., Syme, S. L., & Chae, D. H. (2019). Racial discrimination, educational attainment, and biological dysregulation among midlife African American women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 99, 225–235.

Allen, A. M., Wang, Y., Chae, D. H., Price, M. M., Powell, W., Steed, T. C., Rose Black, A., Dhabhar, F. S., Marquez‐Magaña, L., & Woods‐Giscombe, C. L. (2019). Racial discrimination, the superwoman schema, and allostatic load: Exploring an integrative stress‐coping model among African American women. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1457(1), 104–127.

Artiga, S., Hamel, L., Gonzalez-Barrera, A., Montero, A., Hill, L., Presiado, M., Kirzinger, A., & Lopes, L. (2023, December 5). Survey on Racism, Discrimination and Health. KFF.

Bastos, J. L., & Harnois, C. E. (2020). Does the Everyday Discrimination Scale generate meaningful cross-group estimates? A psychometric evaluation. Social Science & Medicine, 265(113321).

Beldon, M. A., Clay, S. L., Uhr, S. D., Woolfolk, C. L., & Canton, I. J. (2024). Exposure to racism and adverse pregnancy outcomes for Black women: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 27.

Berger, M., & Sarnyai, Z. (2014). “More than skin deep”: Stress neurobiology and mental health consequences of racial discrimination. Stress, 18(1), 1–10.

Bernardo, C. de O., Bastos, J. L., González-Chica, D. A., Peres, M. A., & Paradies, Y. C. (2017). Interpersonal discrimination and markers of adiposity in longitudinal studies: A systematic review. Obesity Reviews, 18(9), 1040–1049.

Bird, C. M., Webb, E. K., Schramm, A. T., Torres, L., Larson, C., & deRoon ‐Cassini, T. A. (2021). Racial Discrimination is associated with acute posttraumatic stress symptoms and predicts future posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity in trauma‐exposed Black adults in the United States. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 34(5).

Boen, C. (2019). Death by a thousand cuts: Stress exposure and Black–White disparities in physiological functioning in late life. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75(9), 1937–1950.

Boyd, D. T., Quinn, C. R., Durkee, M. I., Williams, E.-D. G., Constant, A., Washington, D., Butler-Barnes, S. T., & Ewing, A. P. (2024). Perceived discrimination, mental health help-seeking attitudes, and suicide ideation, planning, and attempts among black young adults. BMC Public Health, 24(1).

Brody, G. H., Lei, M.-K., Chae, D. H., Yu, T., Kogan, S. M., & Beach, S. R. H. (2014). Perceived discrimination among African American adolescents and allostatic load: A longitudinal analysis with buffering effects. Child Development, 85(3), 989–1002.

Cahill, M., Illback, R., & Peiper, N. (2024). Perceived racial discrimination, psychological distress, and suicidal behavior in adolescence: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from a statewide youth survey. Healthcare, 12(10), 1011.

Carliner, H., Delker, E., Fink, D. S., Keyes, K. M., & Hasin, D. S. (2016). Racial discrimination, socioeconomic position, and illicit drug use among US Blacks. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 51(4), 551–560.

Cave, L., Cooper, M. N., Zubrick, S. R., & Shepherd, C. C. J. (2020). Racial discrimination and child and adolescent health in longitudinal studies: a systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 250(112864), 112864.

Chae, D. H., Martz, C. D., Fuller-Rowell, T. E., Spears, E. C., Smith, T. T. G., Hunter, E. A., Drenkard, C., & Lim, S. S. (2019). Racial discrimination, disease activity, and organ damage: The Black women’s experiences living with lupus (BeWELL) study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 188(8).

Chae, D. H., Wang, Y., Martz, C. D., Slopen, N., Yip, T., Adler, N. E., Fuller-Rowell, T. E., Lin, J., Matthews, K. A., Brody, G. H., Spears, E. C., Puterman, E., & Epel, E. S. (2020). Racial discrimination and telomere shortening among African Americans: The coronary artery risk development in young adults (CARDIA) study. Health Psychology, 39(3), 209–219.

Chen, S., & Mallory, A. B. (2021). The effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health: A propensity score weighting approach. Social Science & Medicine, 285(114308).

Cheng, H.-L., & Mallinckrodt, B. (2015). Racial/ethnic discrimination, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and alcohol problems in a longitudinal study of Hispanic/Latino college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(1), 38–49.

Cheng, P., Cuellar, R., Johnson, D. A., Kalmbach, D. A., Joseph, C. L., Cuamatzi Castelan, A., Sagong, C., Casement, M. D., & Drake, C. L. (2020). Racial discrimination as a mediator of racial disparities in insomnia disorder. Sleep Health, 6(5), 543–549.

Cleveland Clinic. (2024, March 22). Inflammation: What is it, causes, symptoms & treatment. Cleveland Clinic.

Cobb, R. J., Sheehan, C., Louie, P., & Erving, C. L. (2021). Multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination and all-cause mortality risk among older Black adults. The Journals of Gerontology, 77(2), 310–314.

Cohen, M. F., Corwin, E. J., Johnson, D. A., Amore, A. D., Brown, A. L., Barbee, N. R., Brennan, P. A., & Dunlop, A. L. (2022). Discrimination is associated with poor sleep quality in pregnant Black American women. Sleep Medicine, 100, 39–48.

Cohen, M. F., Dunlop, A. L., Johnson, D. A., Dunn Amore, A., Corwin, E. J., & Brennan, P. A. (2022). Intergenerational effects of discrimination on Black American children’s sleep health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7), 4021.

Colten, H. R., Altevogt, B. M., & Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research. (2006). Extent and health consequences of chronic sleep loss and sleep disorders. NIH.gov; National Academies Press (US).

Cuevas, A. G., Ho, T., Rodgers, J., DeNufrio, D., Alley, L., Allen, J., & Williams, D. R. (2021). Developmental timing of initial racial discrimination exposure is associated with cardiovascular health conditions in adulthood. Ethnicity & Health, 26(7), 949–962.

Cuevas, A. G., McSorley, A.-M., Adiammi Lyngdoh, Fatoumata Kaba-Diakité, Harris, A., Brennan Rhodes-Bratton, & Rouhani, S. (2024). Education, income, wealth, and discrimination in Black-White allostatic load disparities. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 67(1), 97–104.

Cuevas, A. G., Ong, A. D., Carvalho, K., Ho, T., Chan, S. W. (Celine), Allen, J. D., Chen, R., Rodgers, J., Biba, U., & Williams, D. R. (2020). Discrimination and systemic inflammation: A critical review and synthesis. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 89, 465–479.

Fani, N., Carter, S. E., Harnett, N. G., Ressler, K. J., & Bradley, B. (2021). Association of racial discrimination with neural response to threat in Black women in the US exposed to trauma. JAMA Psychiatry, 78(9).

Fani, N., Harnett, N. G., Bradley, B., Mekawi, Y., Powers, A., Stevens, J. S., Ressler, K. J., & Carter, S. (2021). Racial discrimination and white matter microstructure in trauma-exposed Black women. Biological Psychiatry, 91(3).

Forde, A. T., Crookes, D. M., Suglia, S. F., & Demmer, R. T. (2019). The weathering hypothesis as an explanation for racial disparities in health: A systematic review. Annals of Epidemiology, 33, 1–18.

Fuller-Rowell, T. E., Curtis, D. S., El-Sheikh, M., Duke, A. M., Ryff, C. D., & Zgierska, A. E. (2017). Racial discrimination mediates race differences in sleep problems: a longitudinal analysis. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 23(2), 165–173.

Giurgescu, C., Engeland, C. G., Templin, T. N., Zenk, S. N., Koenig, M. D., & Garfield, L. (2016). Racial discrimination predicts greater systemic inflammation in pregnant African American women. Applied Nursing Research: ANR, 32, 98–103.

Giurgescu, C., Zenk, S. N., Engeland, C. G., Garfield, L., & Templin, T. N. (2017). Racial discrimination and psychological wellbeing of pregnant women. MCN, the American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 42(1), 8–13.

Glass, J. E., Williams, E. C., & Oh, H. (2020). Racial/ethnic discrimination and alcohol use disorder severity among United States adults. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 216(108203), 108203.

Guidi, J., Lucente, M., Sonino, N., & Fava, Giovanni A. (2020). Allostatic load and its impact on health: A systematic review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 90(1), 1–17.

Hill, L., & Artiga, S. (2026, June 4). Elimination of federal diversity initiatives: Updates and current status. KFF.

Hill, L., Artiga, S., Pillai, A., & Rao, A. (2025, March 21). Elimination of federal diversity initiatives: Implications for racial health equity. KFF.

Hill, L., Rao, A., Artiga, S., & Ranji, U. (2025, December 3). Racial disparities in maternal and infant health: Current status and key issues. KFF.

Johnson, A., Dobbs, P. D., Coleman, L., & Maness, S. (2023). Pregnancy-specific stress and racial discrimination among U.S. women. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 27(2), 328–334.

Jones, C. P. (2000). Levels of racism: A theoretic framework and a gardener’s tale. American Journal of Public Health, 90(8), 1212–1215.

KFF. (2023). How history has shaped racial and ethnic health disparities: A timeline of policies and events. KFF.

Krieger, N., Smith, K., Naishadham, D., Hartman, C., & Barbeau, E. M. (2005). Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health. Social Science & Medicine, 61(7), 1576–1596.

Latendresse, G. (2009). The interaction between chronic stress and pregnancy: Preterm birth from a biobehavioral perspective. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 54(1), 8–17.

LaVeist, T. A., Pérez-Stable, E. J., Richard, P., Anderson, A., Isaac, L. A., Santiago, R., Okoh, C., Breen, N., Farhat, T., Assenov, A., & Gaskin, D. J. (2023). The economic burden of racial, ethnic, and educational health inequities in the US. JAMA, 329(19), 1682–1692.

Lavner, J. A., Hart, A. R., Carter, S. E., & Beach, S. R. H. (2022). Longitudinal effects of racial discrimination on depressive symptoms among Black youth: Between- and within-person effects. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 61(1), 56–65.

Lawrence, W. R., Jones, G. S., Johnson, J. A., Ferrell, K. P., Johnson, J. N., Shiels, M. S., Diez Roux, A. V., & Forde, A. T. (2023). Discrimination experiences and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: Multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 16(4).

Lewis, T. T., Cogburn, C. D., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Self-reported experiences of discrimination and health: Scientific advances, ongoing controversies, and emerging issues. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 11(1), 407–440.

Liu, S. Y., & Kawachi, I. (2017). Discrimination and telomere length among older adults in the United States. Public Health Reports, 132(2), 220–230.

Mekawi, Y., Hyatt, C. S., Maples-Keller, J., Carter, S., Michopoulos, V., & Powers, A. (2021). Racial discrimination predicts mental health outcomes beyond the role of personality traits in a community sample of African Americans. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(2), 183–196.

Meyer, C. S., Schreiner, P. J., Lim, K., Battapady, H., & Launer, L. J. (2019). Depressive symptomatology, racial discrimination experience, and brain tissue volumes observed on magnetic resonance imaging. American Journal of Epidemiology, 188(4), 656–663.

Miller, H. N., LaFave, S., Marineau, L., Stephens, J., & Thorpe, R. J. (2021). The impact of discrimination on allostatic load in adults: An integrative review of literature. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 146(110434).

Moody, D. L. B., Taylor, A. D., Leibel, D. K., Al-Najjar, E., Katzel, L. I., Davatzikos, C., Gullapalli, R. P., Seliger, S. L., Kouo, T., Erus, G., Rosenberger, W. F., Evans, M. K., Zonderman, A. B., & Waldstein, S. R. (2019). Lifetime discrimination burden, racial discrimination, and subclinical cerebrovascular disease among African Americans. Health Psychology, 38(1), 63.

Ndugga, N., Hill, L., Rao, A., Pillai, A., & Artiga, S. (2025, December 16). Key data on health and health care by race and ethnicity. KFF.

Oshri, A., Reck, A. J., Carter, S. E., Uddin, L. Q., Geier, C. F., Beach, S. R. H., Brody, G. H., Kogan, S. M., & Sweet, L. H. (2024). Racial discrimination and risk for internalizing and externalizing symptoms among Black youths. JAMA Network Open, 7(6), e2416491.

Pacheco, N. L., Noren Hooten, N., Wu, S. F., Mensah‐Bonsu, M., Zhang, Y., Chitrala, K. N., De, S., Mode, N. A., Ezike, N., Beatty Moody, D. L., Zonderman, A. B., & Evans, M. K. (2025). Genome‐wide transcriptome differences associated with perceived discrimination in an urban, community‐dwelling middle‐aged cohort. The FASEB Journal, 39(3).

Pantesco, E. J., Leibel, D. K., Ashe, J. J., Waldstein, S. R., Katzel, L. I., Liu, H. B., Weng, N., Evans, M. K., Zonderman, A. B., & Beatty Moody, D. L. (2018). Multiple forms of discrimination, social status, and telomere length: Interactions within race. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 98, 119–126.

Paradies, Y., Ben, J., Denson, N., Elias, A., Priest, N., Pieterse, A., Gupta, A., Kelaher, M., & Gee, G. (2020). Racism as a determinant of health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 10(9), 1–48.

Robinson, M. N., & Thomas Tobin, C. S. (2021). Is John Henryism a health risk or resource?: Exploring the role of culturally relevant coping for physical and mental health among Black Americans. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 62(2), 136–151.

Shammas, M. A. (2011). Telomeres, lifestyle, cancer, and aging. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 14(1), 28–34.

Spears, I. D., Gorelik, A. J., Norton, S. A., Boudreaux, M. J., Wolk, M. W., Siudzinski, J., Paul, S. E., Cox, M. A., Rogers, C. E., Oltmanns, T. F., Hill, P. L., & Bogdan, R. (2026). Cumulative lifespan stress, inflammation, and racial disparities in mortality between Black and White adults. JAMA Network Open, 9(1).

Thames, A. D., Irwin, M. R., Breen, E. C., & Cole, S. W. (2019). Experienced discrimination and racial differences in leukocyte gene expression. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 106, 277–283.

Torres, L., Geier, T. J., Tomas, C. W., Bird, C. M., Timmer‐Murillo, S., Larson, C. L., & deRoon ‐Cassini, T. A. (2024). Racial discrimination increases the risk for nonremitting posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in traumatically injured Black individuals living in the United States. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 37(4).

Tynes, B. M., Maxie-Moreman, A., Hoang, T.-M. H., Willis, H. A., & English, D. (2024). Online racial discrimination, suicidal ideation, and traumatic stress in a national sample of Black adolescents. JAMA Psychiatry, 81(3).

Wallace, M., Crear-Perry, J., Richardson, L., Tarver, M., & Theall, K. (2017). Separate and unequal: Structural racism and infant mortality in the US. Health & Place, 45, 140–144.

Webb, E. K., Bird, C. M., deRoon-Cassini, T. A., Weis, C. N., Huggins, A. A., Fitzgerald, J. M., Miskovich, T., Bennett, K., Krukowski, J., Torres, L., & Larson, C. L. (2022). Racial discrimination and resting-state functional connectivity of salience network nodes in trauma-exposed Black adults in the United States. JAMA Network Open, 5(1), e2144759.

Williams, D. R., Lawrence, J. A., & Davis, B. A. (2019). Racism and health: evidence and needed research. Annual Review of Public Health, 40(1), 105–125.

Williams, D. R., Priest, N., & Anderson, N. B. (2016). Understanding associations among race, socioeconomic status, and health: Patterns and prospects. Health Psychology, 35(4), 407–411.

Yip, T. (2015). The effects of ethnic/racial discrimination and sleep quality on depressive symptoms and self-esteem trajectories among diverse adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44(2), 419–430.

Yip, T., Cheon, Y. M., Wang, Y., Cham, H., Tryon, W., & El‐Sheikh, M. (2019). Racial disparities in sleep: Associations with discrimination among ethnic/racial minority adolescents. Child Development, 91(3), 914–931.