"Rest of the folks are tired and weary": The impact of historical lynchings on biological and cognitive health for older adults racialized as Black.

ABSTRACT: Childhood structural racism may lead to poorer health and longevity for individuals racialized as Black. Racism-related stress cumulatively taxes the body resulting in worsening biological and cognitive health. This study examines the association between state-level exposure to historical lynchings (adverse childhood racism for modern older adults), with C-reactive protein (CRP, a marker of systemic inflammation), and global cognitive performance (modified TICS). We linked the percentage of lynchings of people racialized as Black at the state-level between 1882 and 1968 from the Archives at Tuskegee Institute with repeated CRP and cognitive test scores at baseline (2006/2008), year 4 (2010/2012), and year 8 (2014/2016) for a national sample of older adults in the Health and Retirement Stud

SUBMITTER: Adkins-Jackson PB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11647559 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature