School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Dev Psychopathol. 2020 Dec;32(5):1669-1684. doi: 10.1017/S095457942000111X.
We review evidence of racial discrimination as a critical and understudied form of adversity that has the potential to impact stress biology, particularly hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. We highlight ethnic racial identity (ERI) as a positive regulatory influence on HPA axis activity, as indexed by levels of salivary cortisol. In past research by our group, Black individuals with high adolescent discrimination had low adult cortisol levels (hypocortisolism). Here, we present new analyses showing that ERI, measured prospectively from ages 12 through 32 in 112 Black and white individuals, is related to better-regulated cortisol levels in adulthood, particularly for Black participants. We also describe ongoing research that explores whether the promotion of ERI during adolescence can reduce ethnic-racial disparities in stress biology and in emotional health and academic outcomes.
我们回顾了种族歧视作为一种严重但研究不足的逆境形式的证据，这种逆境有可能影响压力生物学，特别是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的活动。我们强调种族认同（ERI）是 HPA 轴活动的一个积极调节因素，其指标是唾液皮质醇水平。在我们小组过去的研究中，青少年时期经历较多歧视的黑人个体的成年后皮质醇水平较低（皮质醇减少症）。在这里，我们提出了新的分析结果，表明从 12 岁到 32 岁期间对 112 名黑人和白人个体进行前瞻性测量的 ERI 与成年后皮质醇水平的更好调节有关，这一结果在黑人参与者中更为明显。我们还描述了正在进行的研究，该研究探讨了在青少年时期促进 ERI 是否可以减少压力生物学以及情绪健康和学业成果方面的种族差异。
