Discrimination and hair cortisol concentration among asian, latinx and white young adults

Abstract

Discrimination is a form of chronic stress and hair cortisol concentration is an emerging biomarker of chronic stress. In a sample of 83 first-year college students (age x⋅⋅−=17.65, SD=48, 69% female, 84% United States-born, 24% Asian, 21% Latinx, and 55% White), the current study investigates associations between hair cortisol concentration with discrimination stress assessed across two timeframes: past year and past two weeks. Significant associations were observed for past year discrimination and hair cortisol concentration levels, but not for discrimination over the past two weeks. The current study contributes to a growing body of evidence linking discrimination stress exposure to neuroendocrine functioning.

Keywords

• Discrimination
• Hair cortisol concentration