“The stress can be related to interpersonal interactions like feeling socially isolated, getting passed over for a promotion, or being called racist labels, and to institutional discrimination, such as living in unhealthy neighborhoods or receiving inadequate medical care.”Ĭhronic stress is a risk factor for premature and low-birthweight births, she explains. Stressful experiences that women face throughout their lives and across generations can have a powerful impact on the body, says Cubbin. The growing evidence that racism-related stress contributes to these inequities in premature birth accounts for some of the dynamics that earlier studies couldn’t unravel. But the gap between Black and white women exists at all socioeconomic levels and may even be wider among women with college degrees, Cubbin points out.

5īabies born to women with more socioeconomic resources-more education, income, and wealth-tend to fare better, research shows. For example, a new study shows that a non-smoking Black woman faces the same odds of delivering prematurely as a white woman who smokes up to nine cigarettes per day before and during pregnancy. Researchers have been unable to fully explain the racial gap in premature births.Ī large body of research shows that known risk factors for premature births-such as smoking during pregnancy-only explain a portion of this racial disparity, according to Cubbin. It also raises the risk of chronic diseases and early death when those babies become adults.” Racism-Related Stress Could Be Key to Explaining Black/White Gap in Premature Births “What may come as a surprise though is that premature birth increases both the risk of death and multiple, serious disabilities for those babies. “Many people think that small and premature babies will by and large ‘catch up’ in weight and live long and healthy lives-and fortunately, many do,” Cubbin says. Premature or preterm birth (before 37 weeks of gestation) is one of the most common causes of infant mortality in the United States. 2 Growing evidence suggests that racism-related stress may contribute to premature births. 1These stark racial disparities have been documented for more than a century, reports Catherine Cubbin of the University of Texas at Austin, who calls them “alarming.”Ĭharacteristics like a mother’s health, education, and income account for less than half of the disparity, and researchers have long sought answers to further explain the gap. Just over 14% of Black women have premature births compared with 9% of white women. Racism-related stress may help explain why Black women in the United States are over 50% more likely to deliver a premature baby than white women. Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.Policy and Advocacy Communications Training.Management of Complex Technical Programs.Distilling Research for Non-Technical Audiences.Adaptive Learning and Knowledge Management.Family Planning, Maternal and Reproductive Health.

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