Brosschot and colleagues (2006) use the term “perseverative cognition” to capture worry, rumination and anticipatory stress. They review evidence from multiple sources that suggests that repeated or chronic activation of the cognitive imagery of one or more psychosocial stressors can serve to prolong the stress and exacerbate the negative effects of stress on health. These chronic cognitive processes can lead to “prolonged physiological activation.” The resulting anticipatory stress, reflected in chronic or sustained vigilance can lead to dysregulation of both emotional and physiological functioning. Considerable evidence suggests that prolonged physiological activation is a risk factor for multiple disease conditions (Brosschot et al. 2006). Thus, capturing the level of anticipatory stress, worry, rumination, regarding the threat of discrimination is an important priority for future research. Williams (1997) has suggested that the finding of elevated nocturnal blood pressure levels of African Americans during sleep could reflect a heightened vigilance and a failure to ever completely relax because of the constant threat of discrimination and other dangers linked to residence in hostile residential contexts. Recent research has shown that discrimination contributes to African
