Discrimination in the workplace refers to unjust conditions or unfavourable treatment based on personal characteristics, especially race, sex, or age.
How can discrimination impact our health?
Despite this, multiple studies have shown that discrimination increases the risk of developing a wide spectrum of heart disease risk factors. This can also include chronic low-grade inflammation, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, in addition to hypertension.
Who participated in the work discrimination research?
The survey followed a national sample of 1,246 adults from a variety of occupations and educational levels, with roughly equal proportions of men and women.
The majority were Caucasian, middle-aged, and married. They were predominantly nonsmokers who consumed low to moderate quantities of alcohol and engaged in moderate to vigorous exercise. None of the participants had elevated blood pressure based on the initial measurements.
How was discrimination measured, and what were the findings of the study?
This is the first study to demonstrate that workplace discrimination can increase blood pressure.
Researchers used a test with the following six questions to assess discrimination levels:
- How frequently do you believe you are assigned duties that no one else wants?
- How frequently are you observed more attentively than other employees?
- How frequently does your supervisor or employer use racial, ethnic, or sexual slurs or jokes?
- How frequently do your colleagues use racial, ethnic, or sexual slurs or jokes?
- How often do you feel that your boss disregards you or does not consider you seriously?
- How frequently has a colleague with less experience and qualifications received a promotion before you?
On the basis of the responses, researchers calculated discrimination scores and categorised participants into low, intermediate, and high score groups.
After approximately eight years of follow-up, approximately 26% of all participants reported developing elevated blood pressure.
Compared to individuals who scored low on workplace discrimination at the beginning of the study, those with intermediate or high scores were 22% and 54% more likely to report elevated blood pressure during the follow-up, respectively.
What impact might discrimination have on blood pressure?
Discrimination can cause emotional stress, which in turn causes the fight-or-flight response. The ensuing hormonal surge causes the heart to beat more quickly and the blood vessels to constrict, temporarily raising blood pressure. Blood pressure, however, might continue to be chronically elevated if the stress reaction is continually triggered.
Unfair treatment based on a variety of criteria, such as race, gender, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation, may constitute discrimination. According to Williams, it doesn't appear to matter how the credit is given. He notes that the Everyday discrimination Scale was expressly created to capture a range of various forms of prejudice and claims that, generally speaking, the impacts of discrimination on health are comparable, independent of the attribution.
What are the study's limitations?
Only 6% of the participants in this latest study were non-white, and they were less likely to participate in the study's follow-up session, which is one of its limitations. As a result, it's possible that the study didn't fully or accurately represent workplace racism among various racial groups. Additionally, blood pressure was self-reported, which can be less accurate than values that were formally recorded by medical experts.
What could lessen the negative effects of employment discrimination on health?
There have been no studies that explicitly address this problem at the organisational level. According to the study's authors, preliminary data suggests that improving working conditions, such as reducing job expectations and boosting workplace management, may aid in lowering blood pressure. Additionally, a report entitled Driving Health Equity in the Workplace, just made public by the American Heart Association, tries to address the factors that contribute to health inequities in the workplace.
Raising people's understanding of implicit bias may be one method to lessen workplace discrimination. Implicit discrimination is the term for people's unintentional preconceptions and beliefs about particular racial or ethnic groups, which may underlie some discriminatory behaviours. These tests, which were developed at Harvard and other colleges, allow you to investigate implicit biases.
Training in stress management has been shown to lower blood pressure in individuals. Numerous methods for reducing stress might have comparable advantages. Regular relaxation exercises or brief mindfulness meditations, establishing coping mechanisms for negative thoughts, and getting enough exercise can all be beneficial.
