Exposures to structural racism and racial discrimination among pregnant and early post‐partum Black women living in Oakland, California
Publication Date
1-9-2020
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Stress and Health
Volume
36
DOI
10.1002/smi.2922
First Page
213
Last Page
219
Abstract
Research supports that exposure to stressors (e.g., perceived stress and racism) during pregnancy can negatively impact the immune system, which may lead to infection and ultimately increases the risk for having a preterm or low-birthweight infant. It is well known that Black women report higher levels of stressors at multiple timepoints across pregnancy compared with women of all other racial and ethnic groups. This study addresses gaps in the literature by describing pregnant and early post-partum Black women's exposures to structural racism and self-reported experiences of racial discrimination, and the extent to which these factors are related. We used a cross-sectional study design to collect data related to exposures to racism from pregnant and early post-partum Black women residing in Oakland, California, from January 2016 to December 2017. Comparative analysis revealed that living in highly deprived race + income neighborhoods was associated with experiencing racial discrimination in three or more situational domains (p = .01). Findings show that Black women are exposed to high levels of racism that may have negative impacts on maternal health outcomes.
Keywords
Black women, pregnancy, racial discrimination, structural racism
Department
Public Health and Recreation
Recommended Citation
Brittany D. Chambers, Silvia E. Arabia, Helen A. Arega, Molly R. Altman, Rachel Berkowitz, Sky K. Feuer, Linda S. Franck, Anu M. Gomez, Kord Kober, Tania Pacheco-Werner, Randi A. Paynter, Aric A. Prather, Solaire A. Spellen, Darcy Stanley, Laura L. Jelliffe-Pawlowski, and Monica R. McLemore. "Exposures to structural racism and racial discrimination among pregnant and early post‐partum Black women living in Oakland, California" Stress and Health (2020): 213-219. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2922
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