The Effects of Perceived Discrimination on Mental and Physical Health

这项研究考察了长期和尖锐的歧视感知对心理和心理健康的影响 生理应激反应。人们普遍认为，感知到的歧视对两人的心理都有负面影响 和身体健康，但直接解决这一问题的研究很少。利用压力和压力的模型 情绪，它假设，认为别人对自己有偏见是有压力的，并引发一种 负面的自我和他人相关的认知和情绪的级联，进而启动一般的生理 应激反应(例如，血压反应性、皮质醇升高)以及更具体的应激反应 与威胁(如血管阻力)或愤怒(如心输出量)有关。这些生理上的 如果随着时间的推移，反复经历的反应会对健康产生不利影响(McEwen，2000)。它也是 预测，在应对被察觉到的歧视时，可能会出现韧性和脆弱性。10 实验设计(有三个重复)被用来评估认知、 对急性歧视相关事件的情感和生物(荷尔蒙和心血管)反应 在拉美裔美国人、非裔美国人和女性中。实验1测试了慢性或慢性疾病的假说 情境诱导的偏见预期会导致生理应激反应增加， 在评估上不明确的集团间情况下的威胁。实验2-4检验了两种方法的独立效应 暴露在负面社会反馈和对愤怒和威胁相关压力的歧视的期望中 回应。实验5-6考察了明确拒绝或选择的生理效应 社会身份。实验7-8考察了被污名化的目标如何在情境中被激活或长期持有 偏见期望与非污名化伴侣的偏见水平相互作用，从而影响压力 在自然发生的二元社会互动中的反应。实验9-10验证了这一假设 性格乐观主义和被操纵的乐观主义提高了暴露于 偏见。所有实验都假定，对潜在歧视性情况的生理反应是 由情境和人的特征塑造，并检验否定认知和 情感反应对歧视相关应激源的生理反应起中介作用。

This research examines the impact of chronic and acute perceptions of discrimination on psychological and physiological stress responses. Perceived discrimination is widely assumed to negatively affect both mental and physical health, but research directly addressing this issue is scarce. Drawing on models of stress and emotion, it is hypothesized thatperceiving others to be prejudiced against the self is stressful, and initiates a cascade of negative self-and other-related cognitions and emotions that in turn, initiate general physiological stress responses (e.g., blood pressure reactivity, elevated cortisol) as well as more specific stress responses associated with threat (e.g., vascular resistance) or anger (e.g., cardiac output). These physiological responses have adverse health implications if repeatedly experienced over time (McEwen, 2000). It is also predictd that resilience as well as vulnerability can occur in response to perceived discrimination. 10 experimental designs (with three replications) are proposed to assess the interrelationships among cognitive, affective, and biological (hormonal and cardiovascular) responses to acute discrimination-relevant events among Latino-Americans, African-Americans, and women. Experiment 1 tests the hypothesis that chronic or situationally induced expectations of prejudice lead to increased physiological stress responses and greater threat in evaluatively ambiguous intergroup situations. Experiments 2-4 test the independent effectsof exposure to negative social feedback and expectations of discrimination on anger and threat-related stress responses. Experiments 5 - 6 examine the physiological effects of clear rejection or selection based on social identity. Experiments 7-8 examine how a stigmatized target's situationally activated or chronically held prejudice expectations interact with the prejudice level of a nonstigmatized partner to influence stress responses in naturally occurring dyadic social interactions. Experiments 9-10 test the hypothesis that dispositional optimism and manipulated optimism increase resilience among individuals who are exposed to prejudice. All experiments assume that physiological reactions to potentially discriminatory situations are shaped by features of the situation and of the person, and test the hypothesis that negative cognitions and affective responses mediate physiological responses to discrimination-relevant stressors.