Racism has impacts on several aspects of life for minorities. One of the most severe ways minorities are impacted is the way racism affects health. So many aspects of minority health are impacted due to racism and the problems it creates. The purpose of this website and project is to show the many ways racism impacts minority health and well being. The issue is often times over looked in the grand scheme of racism, while having just as much consequences. My hope for this project is to get more people aware about the health crisis of racism and to hopefully inspire others to try and call for change as well.

 

Work:

 

Racism effect on child health

Daniel Dagnatchew

CIty College of New York

Abstract

Racism has always been present and a part of American society. Most research has shown that racism affects children in various aspects of their lives.  Racism can affect minority children in many ways.. Research has shown that the racism minority children face can damage a child’s health both mentally and physically. Racism is so detrimental to a child’s health it can determine how long they live past infancy. The stress of dealing with racism negatively impacts a child’s health and these health outcomes can negatively affect future generations. Combatting the effects of racism is not as simple as to make certain racist practices illegal because the communities that were affected can still be impacted today by past racist practices. Racism makes certain communities vulnerable to be reliant on federal programs which are being cut and underfunded.

INTRODUCTION 

The Oxford Dictionary defines racism as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized. Racism is a problem that has plagued America since its inception. The United States was founded on a system of racial bigotry and set up a hierarchy in place where minorities were at the bottom, and those who were white and wealthy were at the top. Minorities in the United States have continuously faced bigotry on a daily basis, as well as facing systemic and direct oppression. Because racism determines a person’s statistics in society it affects every area of their life. Racism does not only affect adults, but instead research has shown that at a very young age most minority children will experience or bear witness to racism or some form of bigotry. There are glaring disparities in the health outcomes of minorities, this is largely because of how they are treated in the healthcare system and the access to healthcare which are available to minority groups. Racism is a detriment to minority children’s mental and physical health, which can also affect their education outcomes, and has an impact on their future. Children, especially when they are younger are easily influenced groups, and can experience and see racism at extremely 

young ages even if they can’t directly identify what’s happening.

 

Main Body 

Effect of Racism on Physical Health.

One of the biggest long term effects of the early exposure to racism in children shows up in the child’s health. In August 2019, Maria Trent, Danielle G. Dooley, and Jacqueline Dougé from the American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) put out an impact policy statement to titled The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health to address racism and its effects on children. They determined that racism is causing a health crisis because of bias and determinants. The AAP states that “These determinants are influenced by economic, political, and social factors linked to health inequities (avoidable inequalities in health between groups of people within populations and between countries). These health inequities are not the result of individual behavior choices or genetic predisposition but are caused by economic, political, and social conditions, including racism states that exposure to racism causes mental health problems in both children and adolescents.”  They found that racism can cause chronic stress at young ages, in which the hormones that are released due to chronic stress can leave the individual more susceptible to chronic diseases as well. When an individual experiences chronic stress it can leave them vulnerable to contracting chronic diseases, and can lead to higher mortality rates. From these findings we can see that racism is a serious health issue and not just a social issue, because it impacts the healthcare and social service system. From the research shown we can see that the effects of racism has an impact on having prolonged stress on the body. The effect of this stress can lead to increased contraction of diseases,which could be avoided if the stress of racism wasn’t a factor. The higher disease rates also leads to a higher mortality rate, and may lead to children dying at a younger age,  and can also lead to higher mortality rates for parents which will leave behind vulnerable children who have to rely on the social service system. These are problems that cycle between generations because the problems of racism aren’t being adequately addressed by society. These problems would be avoided if racism weren’t a factor and stressors on communities.

Racism Effects on Maternal Health

The racism that children can experience at younger ages may even be present during the womb or shortly after. Studies have shown that racial disparities in medicine and hospitals are still present, meaning that doctors may not listen to a mother if she is a minority or may not take her claims seriously. This can lead to drastic effects on babies including something going wrong with the pregnancy and even losing the baby. Studies have also shown the stress of pregnancy in minority mothers has led to a decrease in baby weights as well. A study by Jamila Taylor, Cristina Novoa, Katie Hamm, and Shilpa Phadke on May 2 2019 titled Eliminating Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Mortality for The Center for American Progress states that the mortality rates for African-American mothers have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world. They state that “African American women across the income spectrum and from all walks of life are dying from preventable pregnancy-related complications at three to four times the rate of non-Hispanic white women, while the death rate for black infants is twice that of infants born to non-Hispanic white mothers.” They also found that African-American mothers were twice as likely to have a child die within the child’s first 12 months of age. These problems were not limited to African-American women but also found that Hispanic and Latino women also had higher preterm births and infant mortality when compared to Caucasian women. The higher infant mortality rates and preterm birth rates affect most minority women across the spectrum. The Center for American Progress found that structural racism was at the root of the problem. They state “In the past decades, many programs that support families in need—such as Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and nutrition assistance—have experienced a steady erosion of funding, if not outright budget cuts. The fact that these cuts have a harmful impact on families of color, who are overrepresented in these programs due to barriers to economic opportunity in this country, can be attributed to structural racism.” Structural racism affects these women’s families economic outcome, which causes them to heavily rely on aid programs. If racism were not a barrier to economic success then it can be argued that these programs may still exist but they wouldn’t be as needed as much by these communities. Which would mean less vulnerable minority women and children who would be reliant on need based government programs. This would also lead to less infant deaths among minority communities as well.

 

Racism Effect on Mental Health 

Racism doesn’t just affect a child’s physical health, but also their mental health as well. A study by Naomi Priest, Yin Paradies, Brigid Trenerry, Mandy Truong, Saffron Karlsen, and Yvonne Kelly that was published in the journal Science Direct, stated that a global review was conducted reviewing the relationship between racial discrimination and child and youth health. The study found that out of 121 studies a significant “76% of associations between racial discriminations and negative mental health.” The test also showed that future research requires more longitudinal designs and valid exposure instruments. While the study is somewhat inconclusive, this study still shows a relation between racial discrimination and mental health deterioration. This study was to see the effects of racism on minority participants’ mental and physical health. The subjects were from various minority groups and they found that racism negatively impacted the subjects mental health. They state  that “The stronger association between racism and mental health outcomes, compared with physical health, raises questions about the mechanisms by which racism affects health. Chronic exposure to racism may be implicated in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation that, in turn, can damage bodily systems and lead to physical outcomes such as CVD and obesity. The impacts of racism on the dysregulation of cognitive-affective regions such as the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala and thalamus share similarities with pathways leading to anxiety, depression and psychosis.” Many of the participants struggled with depression, low self-esteem, and had suicidal thoughts because of their experiences with racism. This shows that racism can have a significant impact on a person’s mental health. This study showed that experiences of racism has greater consequences for a person’s mental health than even physical health problems. 

Discussion

 

Section 4.-Themes

These findings show that racism is creating a health crisis among minority groups which affects their mental and physical health. The effects of racial inequity are felt by minority children before they are born when they are in the womb. Minority children are more likely to die in infancy than white children. The stress of experiencing racism can raise stress cortisol levels in the body which can negatively impact a person’s physical health. Racism also takes a mental toll on those who experience racism. It leads to an increase in depression, feelings of low self esteem and suicidal thoughts. Based on these findings we can conclude that racism is creating a health crisis. Racism affects a person at every stage of development from the time they are in the womb and even more so when they become conscious of their surroundings. 

 

Conclusion

Studies that have been done show that there is a connection between racial discrimination and health and well being. Studies are showing that the overall situation of both the healthcare industry and institutionalized racism throughout the country has a negative effect on health outcomes. Although there is a growing body of evidence that shows that racism negatively impacts minority children’s mental and physical health, there isn’t enough cumulative evidence to focus specifically on what aspect of racism impacts health. Because correlation doesn’t equal causation, there needs to be more studies to see a stronger connection between racism and negative health outcomes.  While there is evidence that shows that racism puts chronic stress on the body with negative mental and physical outcomes, there needs to be more studies done to pinpoint the exact effects of the experiencing of prolonged racism on a child that in turn may have negative consequences through adulthood. However, there is evidence that does show that racism directly effects physical outcomes, but most of the data collected is self-reported so more studies need to be done to find concrete causes to directly link racism to negative physical health problems. 

References

Trent, M.  Dooley, D. Dougé, J.(August 2019).The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health. PEDIATRICS.ORG(https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/144/2/e20191765?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=44444444-4444-4444-4444-444444444444), Vol#144(Issue#2), 

Taylor, J. Novoa, C. Hamm, K. Phadke, S. (May 2019).  Eliminating Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Mortality. AmericanProgress.org, (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2019/05/02/469186/eliminating-racial-disparities-maternal-infant-mortality/)

Paradies, Y., Ben, J., Denson, N., Elias, A., Priest, N., Pieterse, A., Gupta, A., Kelaher, M., & Gee, G. (2015). Racism as a Determinant of Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE, 10(9). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A429601044/AONE?u=nypl&sid=AONE&xid=ce14b70b

 

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