@article{ref1,
title="Everyday unfair treatment and multisystem biological dysregulation in African American adults",
journal="Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology",
year="2017",
author="Ong, Anthony D. and Williams, David R. and Nwizu, Ujuonu and Gruenewald, Tara L.",
volume="23",
number="1",
pages="27-35",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Increasing evidence suggests that chronic exposure to unfair treatment or day-to-day discrimination increases risk for poor health, but data on biological stress mechanisms are limited. This study examined chronic experiences of unfair treatment in relation to allostatic load (AL), a multisystem index of biological dysregulation.  METHOD: Data are from a sample of 233 African-American adults (37-85 years; 64% women). Perceptions of everyday unfair treatment were measured by questionnaire. An AL index was computed as the sum of 7 separate physiological system risk indices (cardiovascular regulation, lipid, glucose, inflammation, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis).  RESULTS: Adjusting for sociodemographics, medication use, smoking status, alcohol consumption, depressive symptoms, lifetime discrimination, and global perceived stress, everyday mistreatment was associated with higher AL.  CONCLUSIONS: The results add to a growing literature on the effects of chronic bias and discrimination by demonstrating how such experiences are instantiated in downstream physiological systems. (PsycINFO Database Record<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1099-9809",
doi="10.1037/cdp0000087",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000087"
}