Abstract: Racial Discrimination, Cultural Mistrust and Accelerated Aging Among Black Americans (Society for Social Work and Research 30th Annual Conference Anniversary)

Schedule:

Friday, January 16, 2026

Congress, ML 4 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Karen Lincoln, PhD, MSW, MA, FGSA, Professor, University of California, Irvine, CA

Ann Nguyen, PhD, MSW, MS, Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, OH

Kedong Ding, MSW, Doctoral Candidate, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

Bryan Gaines, Center Coordinator, University of California, Irvine, CA

Steve Cole, PhD, Professor, University of California, Irvine, CA

Background and Purpose: Studies that document the relationship between racial discrimination and altered biological function, namely elevated inflammatory activity and cellular aging, are to date limited but important for increasing our understanding of how social identities and life conditions of individuals are grafted onto biological explanations of disease causation and health disparities. Inflammation, DNA damage, and cellular aging are key biological mechanisms driving disease, and further research in this area is needed to identify how experienced racism impacts health outcomes. Likewise, psychological factors that might mitigate biological responses to racial discrimination are not well characterized.

Methods: The current prospective, observational study used multiple linear regression to examine the effects of everyday and major racial discrimination on gene expression in a community sample of Black American middle aged and older adults (N=135). We also tested whether cultural mistrust – mistrust among African Americans towards whites and white-dominated systems – moderated the relationship between racial discrimination and inflammatory and cellular aging related gene expression (e.g., molecular stress).

Results: Findings indicated that frequent experiences of everyday discrimination and major racial discrimination were positively associated with molecular stress. Cultural mistrust moderated the association between everyday discrimination and molecular stress such that Black Americans who reported more frequent experiences of everyday discrimination and high levels of cultural mistrust (e.g., less trust in whites) had low levels of molecular stress. Participants who reported more frequent experiences of everyday discrimination and low levels of cultural mistrust (e.g., more trust in whites) had higher levels of molecular stress.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings improve our understanding of the association between racial discrimination and biological aging, and how Black Americans’ psychological responses to these experiences, namely cultural mistrust, can be protective for their health and well-being. Implications for social work research and practice focused on stress and coping among Black Americans will be discussed.