Racial Discrimination and Stress Response
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
The goal of this study is to learn about whether ethnic minority adolescents' racial discrimination experience is related to dysregulated biological responses to subtle racism, and how the relationship may be attenuated or exacerbated by a set of social and cognitive factors. The main questions it aims to answer are:
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to reveal the relationship between racial discrimination experiences and ethnic minority adolescents' stress response to subtle racism
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to test parental ethnic-racial socialization, children's attribution to subtle racism and their racial identity as potential risk and protective factors.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
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N/A |
Detailed Description
Racial discrimination experiences constitute significant risks for ethnic minority youth's physical and mental health problems. One explanation poses that chronic stress can lead to altered, dysregulated stress responses, which can make individuals susceptible to health problems. Currently, there is no experimental study that comprehensively measure ethnic minority youth's stress response to subtle racism, or investigate the contributing roles of racial discrimination experience and possible risk and protective factors.
A community sample of 11-14-year-old ethnic minority adolescents (40 Latino American, 40 Black/African American) and their parents will be recruited. The study employs an adapted peer rejection task which has been widely used with youth, and carefully designed to elicit the experience of subtle racial discrimination from White peers. Adolescents' cardiovascular activity and saliva samples will be taken at multiple time points before, during, and after the peer rejection task, tapping on response involving hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, autonomic nervous system (ANS), and inflammatory mediator (IM). Adolescents will report their racial discrimination experience, make attribution about the peer rejection experience, and rate their racial identity. Parents will complete a questionnaire to report their ethnic-racial socialization practices.
The goals of this proposal are: 1) Reveal the relationship between racial discrimination experiences and ethnic minority adolescents' stress response to subtle racism; and 2) Test parental ethnic-racial socialization, children's attribution to subtle racism and their racial identity as potential risk and protective factors.
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: stress inducing task Adolescents will complete an adapted peer rejection task on the computer to elicit the experience of subtle racial discrimination from White peers. |
Behavioral: peer rejection task
Adolescents will be informed that two peers will take turns to choose who they will chat with for different topics. Participants will not be chosen by virtual White peers 75% of the time. In reality, White peers are computerized avatars and whether or not adolescents are chosen by those peers is programmed with E-prime software.
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Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- change in cardiovascular activity [participants' blood pressure will be continuously monitored 10 minute before, during, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task.]
participants' diastolic and systolic blood pressure will be continuously monitored.
- change in stress hormones [participants' salivary samples will be collected at five time points (right before, 5 minutes after, 15 minutes after, 30 minutes after, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task)]
participants' salivary samples will be collected, frozen, and assayed for cortisol.
- change in inflammatory biomarker of Interleukin 6 [participants' salivary samples will be collected at five time points (right before, 5 minutes after, 15 minutes after, 30 minutes after, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task)]
participants' salivary samples will be collected, frozen, and assayed for inflammatory biomarker of Interleukin-6
- change in inflammatory biomarker of C-reactive protein [participants' salivary samples will be collected at five time points (right before, 5 minutes after, 15 minutes after, 30 minutes after, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task)]
participants' salivary samples will be collected, frozen, and assayed for inflammatory biomarker of C-reactive protein
- attribution about the peer rejection [right after the peer rejection task]
participants will complete the questionnaire, Attribution About The Peer Rejection (AATPR) to rate the likelihood of various reasons for the experience of peer rejection using a 5-point scale. The higher total score for the 4 racial reasons (possible range: 4-20) indicates the higher tendency of making racial attribution about the peer rejection.
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
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6th-8th graders
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identified as Latino American or Black/African American
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Living in Warren county of Kentucky
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Parents of eligible adolescents
Exclusion Criteria:
Adolescents will not participate in the peer rejection task when they report to have:
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frequent experiences of peer victimization
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frequent experiences of racial discrimination
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severe depression
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severe social anxiety disorder
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severe generalized anxiety disorder
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Kentucky University | Bowling Green | Kentucky | United States | 42101 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- Western Kentucky University
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Qingfang Song, Ph.D, Western Kentucky University
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
- Lucas T, Wegner R, Pierce J, Lumley MA, Laurent HK, Granger DA. Perceived Discrimination, Racial Identity, and Multisystem Stress Response to Social Evaluative Threat Among African American Men and Women. Psychosom Med. 2017 Apr;79(3):293-305. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000406.
- Silk JS, Stroud LR, Siegle GJ, Dahl RE, Lee KH, Nelson EE. Peer acceptance and rejection through the eyes of youth: pupillary, eyetracking and ecological data from the Chatroom Interact task. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Jan;7(1):93-105. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsr044. Epub 2011 Jul 20.
- Sladek MR, Castro SA, Doane LD. Ethnic-Racial discrimination experiences predict Latinx adolescents' physiological stress processes across college transition. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Jun;128:105212. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105212. Epub 2021 Apr 1.
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