Work

Racial discrimination, body mass index, and insulin resistance: A longitudinal analysis.

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To examine prospective relations of perceived racial discrimination at ages 16-18 with body mass index (BMI) at ages 19-21 and insulin resistance (IR) at ages 25 and 27 among Black youth in the rural South, and to determine whether BMI connected discrimination to IR as a mediator. METHOD: Participants were 315 African American adolescents in rural counties in Georgia who provided data on their perceptions of discrimination during adolescence. BMI was measured during a yearly home visit, and a certified phlebotomist drew a fasting blood sample from which IR was measured. RESULTS: The data analysis, with all confounding variables controlled, revealed that, over time, (a) discrimination was associated positively with both BMI and IR; (b) BMI was associated positively with IR; and (c) BMI acted as a mediator connecting discrimination with IR. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to discrimination presages IR through its effects on BMI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Health Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/hea0000674

Authors: Gene H. Brody, Tianyi Yu, Edith Chen, Katherine B. Ehrlich, Gregory E. Miller

Institution: Northwestern University

Language: English

Topic: Racial and Ethnic Identity Research

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development