Physiological Reactivity to Racism-Related Stress and Mental Health Symptoms

Supervised by: Dr. Lisa Shin, Department of Psychology, Tufts University

Project Background

People respond to stressful situations very differently. Some individuals show larger physiological reactions, such as changes in breathing or sweating, while others show much smaller responses. My research within Dr. Shin’s lab would begin to assess the differences between those two groups of individuals, i.e., high versus low physiological responders to stress.

One type of stressor that can occur on a daily basis in minoritized populations in the United States is the experience of racial discrimination. In my proposed research, I plan to assess whether larger versus smaller physiological responses to the recollection of racism experiences are associated with mental health symptoms such as stress, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.

Racism is recognized as a psychological stressor, but it is also a physiological one. Experiences of racial discrimination can activate the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the body’s stress response. When this system is repeatedly stimulated over time through exposure to stressors like racism, it can contribute to long-term “wear and tear” on the body. This process has been linked to increased vulnerability to health conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Little is known about how people’s bodies respond when they recall their own personal experiences of racism. Personal memories are often more emotionally and physiologically powerful than generic stimuli, meaning that existing studies of generic stimuli may underestimate the true impact of racism on the body. By examining respiration and skin conductance responses, two indicators of sympathetic nervous system arousal, this project aims to better understand how individual differences in physiological reactivity relate to mental health symptoms such as stress, severity of anxiety, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Identifying these patterns may help explain why some individuals are more vulnerable to stress-related health outcomes following repeated exposure to racism, while others are more resilient.

My Goals

Under the mentorship of Dr. Lisa Shin, I will work on a psychophysiology study that uses the script-driven imagery paradigm, in which participants are asked to recall and vividly imagine different types of personal experiences, including neutral events and experiences of racism, while physiological data are collected. My role will involve assisting with data organization and analysis focused on respiration and skin conductance responses during these imagery periods. I will help compare individuals who show relatively high versus low physiological reactivity to racism-related imagery and examine how these groups differ on clinical, demographic, and psychometric measures collected as part of the study. Through this process, I will gain hands-on experience working with physiological data, learning how abstract psychological constructs like stress are reflected in measurable bodily responses.

Through this research, I hope to deepen my understanding of psychophysiological research methods and how stress responses are measured and interpreted. I also hope to learn how individual differences shape vulnerability to stress-related disorders, especially in the context of repeated or chronic stressors.

Impact

This project contributes to a growing effort to understand racism not only as a social or psychological issue, but as a biological one. By clarifying how repeated stress responses may increase vulnerability to disease, this research has the potential to inform future work aimed at reducing health disparities and improving long-term health outcomes for individuals exposed to chronic discrimination.