The Influence of Racial Discrimination as a Chronic Stressor on Type 2 Diabetes Risk and Self-Management Behaviors among Black Adults: A Scoping Review

This literature review highlights the behavioral and biological mechanisms that link racial discrimination to type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk, self-management, and related complications in the Black population in the United States. Next steps are discussed and include recommendations for disease mitigation.

Black Americans are exposed to high levels of stress, with many stressors rooted in racial discrimination, a psychosocial factor that inhibits positive behavior change and disrupts bodily systems and functioning. T2D is a largely preventable disease, yet Black Americans experience known structural and systemic barriers (i.e., structural racism) that profoundly impact diabetes onset and progression. While causal mechanisms that link racial discrimination and T2D have become a more recent focus of study, a dearth of research on racial discrimination-related stress, and the role it plays in the onset and self-management of T2D, remains.

Identifying the structural and contextual factors, specifically racial discrimination, that influence diabetes risk and self-management among Black adults is important in closing the gap in health disparities. Findings on coping strategies adopted across the African diaspora are also warranted as policy makers, researchers, and clinicians work together to create an actionable path forward.