Pulling together contributions from several expert members, APA responded (PDF, 359KB) to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) call for information on “Improving research frameworks to enable rigorous study of the effects of racism on brain and behavioral health across the lifespan.” Members of APA’s Board of Scientific Affairs, Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race), the APA Board of Directors, and other expert scientists contributed to the response.
Writing for the association, Chief Science Officer Mitch Prinstein, PhD, noted that the existence of a strong and impressive body of scholarship on the health effects of racism is a testament to NIH’s commitment to improve health for all. Over the past few years in particular, NIH has increased investments in diversifying the scientific workforce and expanding programs of research to understand and ameliorate the chronic and acute harms to people of color who experience racial hostility and discrimination.
How the experience of racism gets under the skin to influence health has been the subject of much research. APA’s comments note that scholars including David Williams, PhD, of Harvard University, have studied the stress pathways that are activated and inflamed by the stress of discrimination. Other scholars have focused more on fear and the experience of trauma. Hypertension increased by factors in discrimination and racism can play a role in the development of memory issues and cognitive impairment. Adverse Childhood Experiences including violence and racial trauma can affect the size and structure of the brain. Defining, tracking, and measuring these effects with precision are critical to building additional knowledge that can be used to prevent and treat the adverse health effects of racism.
NIH also asked for feedback about recommended approaches to understand and remedy the influence of racism on current research designs and methodologies. APA shared references including a 2019 American Psychologist article by Buchanan et al. about how epistemic oppression exists within psychological science, including in how science is conducted, reported, reviewed, and disseminated. The article includes recommendations for different stakeholders, including those involved in the production, reporting, and gatekeeping of science as well as consumers of science.
APA Advocacy thanks those who stepped up to help share relevant psychological science on this important topic with NIMH.
For more information, contact Pat Kobor.
