Sunday, September 28, 2025
Science
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News Medicine

How do high-profile incidents of racial discrimination affect the eating habits of Black women?

June 27, 2024
in Medicine
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
How do high-profile incidents of racial discrimination affect the eating habits of Black women?
66
SHARES
602
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

Around the time of the untimely death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man in police custody, researchers from Johns Hopkins University were collecting data for Communities CARING, a study that examined the relationship of health behaviors among public housing residents in East and West Baltimore communities in Maryland. Led by Kristal Lyn Brown, PhD, an assistant professor in Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, a secondary analysis of the data collected for Communities CARING examined the relationship between a high-profile event (Gray’s death) and disordered eating behaviors of Black women both before and after unrest.

Around the time of the untimely death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man in police custody, researchers from Johns Hopkins University were collecting data for Communities CARING, a study that examined the relationship of health behaviors among public housing residents in East and West Baltimore communities in Maryland. Led by Kristal Lyn Brown, PhD, an assistant professor in Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, a secondary analysis of the data collected for Communities CARING examined the relationship between a high-profile event (Gray’s death) and disordered eating behaviors of Black women both before and after unrest.

Recently published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, differences in eating behaviors – emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, cognitive restraint – among Black women residing in the neighborhood near where Gray lived were compared to the eating behaviors of women living in a similar neighborhood farther away, on the other side of Baltimore. The original data collection included the cross-sectional in-person interviews of 254 Black women in Baltimore.

“This study was conceptualized through a vicarious racial discrimination lens – or observing racial discrimination or violence toward other members of the Black community,” said Brown, a Drexel FIRST faculty member.

Brown noted that while this study focused on police violence as a form of vicarious racial discrimination, this type of discrimination is not exclusive to police violence. For example, individuals can experience vicarious racial discrimination through social media, at school or in the workplace, shared stories from family, friends, and strangers alike.

“Regardless of how racial discrimination is experienced, it is a stressor and could lead to race-based traumatic stress (RBTS) — a psychological and emotional reaction, as well as several other poor mental and physical health outcomes,” said Brown.

The research team found that Black women living closer to the unrest reported higher levels of emotional eating and smoking and perceived there to be an increase in daytime crime — highlighting that those residing in this neighborhood are dealing with more stressors overall and engage in various forms of coping, including emotional eating.

Additionally, Black women who took the survey after the unrest and lived in closer proximity reported higher cognitive restraint, showing control over food intake.

“This finding was unanticipated, as uncontrolled eating and emotional eating are more commonly linked to stress,” said Brown. “Our study is cross-sectional, so findings do not imply causality; however, findings do underscore the importance of continuing to explore racial discrimination as a stressor and eating behaviors as a potential coping mechanism.”

Brown added that future research should continue to explore unique stressors, such as racial discrimination, and coping behaviors that might be linked to these stressors in minoritized populations — particularly those sitting at the intersection of multiple identities (e.g., race, living in a larger body). There is also a need for longitudinal and mixed methods studies to better understand the lived experiences and eating behaviors of Black women, a high-risk, under studied population — with a focus on environmental perceptions of safety, racial discrimination, race-based trauma and eating behaviors.

In addition to Brown, the study, “Association Between Maladaptive Eating Behaviors Among Black Women and Vicarious Racial Discrimination Following a High-Profile Event,” was co-authored by Amie F. Bettencourt, PhD, Anika L. Hines, PhD, Lisa A. Cooper, MD and  Kimberly A. Gudzune, MD of Johns Hopkins University.



Journal

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

DOI

10.1007/s40615-024-01994-2

Article Title

Association Between Maladaptive Eating Behaviors Among Black Women and Vicarious Racial Discrimination Following a High-Profile Event

Article Publication Date

5-Apr-2024

Share26Tweet17
Previous Post

Female heart patients less likely to have additional problems fixed during surgery

Next Post

ETRI revolutionizes 6G core network signal processing

Related Posts

blank
Medicine

Estimating Healthy Working Life Expectancy in China

September 28, 2025
blank
Medicine

Financial Struggles of Parents Caring for Eating Disorder

September 27, 2025
blank
Medicine

Consuming Fruit Could Mitigate Air Pollution’s Impact on Lung Health

September 27, 2025
blank
Medicine

Emergency Medicine Professionals Experience Job Satisfaction Despite Challenges with Burnout and Staff Retention

September 27, 2025
blank
Medicine

Moral Distress: A Link Between Work Environment and Nurse Depression

September 27, 2025
blank
Medicine

Predicting Knee Replacement Wear Through Gait Analysis

September 27, 2025
Next Post
ETRI researchers with professors from Oulu and Helsinki University

ETRI revolutionizes 6G core network signal processing

  • Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    27560 shares
    Share 11021 Tweet 6888
  • University of Seville Breaks 120-Year-Old Mystery, Revises a Key Einstein Concept

    969 shares
    Share 388 Tweet 242
  • Bee body mass, pathogens and local climate influence heat tolerance

    646 shares
    Share 258 Tweet 162
  • Researchers record first-ever images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike

    512 shares
    Share 205 Tweet 128
  • Groundbreaking Clinical Trial Reveals Lubiprostone Enhances Kidney Function

    469 shares
    Share 188 Tweet 117
Science

Embark on a thrilling journey of discovery with Scienmag.com—your ultimate source for cutting-edge breakthroughs. Immerse yourself in a world where curiosity knows no limits and tomorrow’s possibilities become today’s reality!

RECENT NEWS

  • Estimating Healthy Working Life Expectancy in China
  • Digital Skills, Motivation, and EFL Teaching Success
  • Financial Struggles of Parents Caring for Eating Disorder
  • How Multiplayer Gaming Impacts Workplace Loneliness

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Athmospheric
  • Biology
  • Blog
  • Bussines
  • Cancer
  • Chemistry
  • Climate
  • Earth Science
  • Marine
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine
  • Pediatry
  • Policy
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Science Education
  • Social Science
  • Space
  • Technology and Engineering

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 5,185 other subscribers

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Discover more from Science

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading