Effects of social stressors on cardiovascular reactivity in Black and White women.
BACKGROUND
Behavioral scientists have theorized that perceived racism in social interactions may account for some of the observed disparities in coronary heart disease between Black and White Americans.


OBJECTIVE
The objective was to examine whether racial stress influences cardiovascular reactivity, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.


METHODS
We measured cardiovascular responses in Black and White women (n = 80) as they talked about 3 hypothetical scenarios: (a) being accused of shoplifting (racial stressor), (b) experiencing airport delays (nonracial stressor), and (c) giving a campus tour (control).


RESULTS
Relative to White women, Black women had significantly greater mean diastolic blood pressure reactivity (3.81 vs. 0.25 mmHg; p < .05) in response to the racial stressor than in response to the nonracial stressor. Black women exhibited significantly lower heart rate during recovery following the racial stressor than during recovery following the nonracial stressor (-0.37 beats/min vs. 0.86 beats/min; p < .001). Among Black women, those who explicitly made race attributions during the racial stressor had greater systolic but not diastolic blood pressure reactivity than those who did not make racial attributions (8.32 mmHg vs. 2.17 mmHg; p < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that perceived racism in social interactions may contribute to increased physiological stress for Black women.
Department of Health & Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. sl2201@columbia.edu
Stephen J
SJ
Lepore
Tracey A
TA
Revenson
Sarah L
SL
Weinberger
Peter
P
Weston
Pasquale G
PG
Frisina
Rommel
R
Robertson
Minerva Mentor
MM
Portillo
Hollie
H
Jones
William
W
Cross
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D011287:Prejudice; D012923:Social Class; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D044465:White People