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Cited by 929Racial and Ethnic Identity ResearchHealth disparities and outcomesBlood Pressure and Hypertension Studies

Racial and gender discrimination: risk factors for high blood pressure?

Krieger, Nancy·1990·Social Science & Medicine
DOI 10.1016/0277-9536(90)90307-e
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Abstract

Despite controversy as to the biologic and/or social meaning of 'race' and 'sex', few public health studies have directly examined the impact of racial or gender discrimination on health. One plausible condition they might affect is hypertension, since stress and internalized anger may constitute important risk factors for this disease. The present investigation therefore sought to determine the feasibility of asking questions pertaining to race- and gender-biased treatment plus response to unfair treatment, and to assess their predictive value regarding self-reported high blood pressure. Using random-digit dialing, 51 black and 50 white women, ages 20-80, who resided in Alameda County, CA in 1987, were identified and interviewed by phone. Among black respondents, those who stated they usually accepted and kept quiet about unfair treatment were 4.4 times more likely to report hypertension than women who said they took action and talked to others (P = 0.01 for linear trend); no clear association existed among white respondents. The age-adjusted risk of high blood pressure among black respondents who recounted experiencing zero instances of race- and gender-biased treatment was 2.6 times greater than that of black women who reported one or more such instances (95% CI = 0.7, 10.5). Among white respondents, gender discrimination was not associated with hypertension. These results suggest that an internalized response to unfair treatment, plus non-reporting of race and gender discrimination, may constitute risk factors for high blood pressure among black women. They also bolster the view that subjective appraisal of stressors may be inversely associated with risk of hypertension.

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  • African American women who stayed silent about unfair treatment had higher blood pressure than those who did not stay silent.

    “In addition, African American women who kept silent about unfair treatment were found to have higher blood pressure (Krieger, 1990) than those who did not keep silent.”

    From Superwoman Schema: African American Women’s Views on Stress, Strength, and Health (2010) · cites this paper as Krieger, 1990

  • This unique intersectional stress resulting from gendered racism has been associated with deleterious outcomes for African American women such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, preterm birth, and low birth weight.

    “This unique intersectional stress resulting from gendered racism has been associated with deleterious outcomes for African American women such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, preterm birth, and low birth weight (Guyll et al., 2001;Jackson et al., 2001;Krieger, 1990).”

    From Superwoman Schema and John Henryism among African American women: An intersectional perspective on coping with racism (2023) · cites this paper as Krieger, 1990

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Authors
Krieger, N.
Affiliations
University of California, Berkeley (US)
Corresponding author
Krieger, Nancy
ORCID
Krieger, Nancy
Venue
Social Science & Medicine
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1990-01
Volume
30
Issue
12
Pages
1273-1281
ISSN
0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/0277-9536(90)90307-e
OpenAlex
W1979629631
Cited by
929
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 58 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 43 · 2012: 51
FWCI
16.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Cancer Institute (1-R03-CA4445-01)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Blood Pressure and Hypertension Studies
Keywords
racial discrimination, gender discrimination, hypertension, Black women, unfair treatment, stress appraisal, health risk factors, social stress
MeSH terms
Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Black or African American, Female, Humans, Hypertension, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Prejudice, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Social Class, United States, White People

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