CNN (7/21, Rogers) reports, “Racial discrimination may increase stress, lead to health problems and hamper cognitive function for Black women, a new study finds.” CNN adds, “Black women who frequently experienced daily racism – including racial slurs, poor store service or forms of stereotyping – had 2.75 times the risk of poor subjective cognitive functioning than women who experienced lower levels of daily racism.” The findings were published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. Dr. Danielle Hairston, psychiatrist and “president of the Black Caucus of the American Psychiatric Association,” said, “The emotional experience of psychological trauma (like racism) can alter cognitive processes such as memory, attention, planning, and problem solving. … Racism is a source of stress and depression, so I would expect that racism can negatively impact cognitive functioning.”
Newsweek (7/21, Gander) reports the study “involved 17,320 participants of the Black Women’s Health Study, which explores variables including racism and subjective cognitive function (SCF), a measure of a person’s memory skills with a lower score meaning more problems.” Of the “participants, 60 percent were deemed to have good SCF, 28 percent moderate, and 12 percent poor.” Newsweek adds, “Depression and insomnia, which can both make cognition worse, may be mediating factors for the link, the team said.”
Related Links:
— “Racial discrimination may harm Black people’s cognitive health, study finds, “Kristen Rogers, CNN, July 21, 2020