1998). Similarly, because of the distinctive residential environments created by segregation, racial minorities are also exposed to elevated levels of neighborhood stressors and violence. Taking institutional discrimination seriously will require renewed focus on racial differences in traditional stressors: violence, criminal victimization, neighborhood conditions, financial stress, and relationship stress. Relatedly, all racism-related stressors must be situated within the context of the total stress burden of respondents’ lives with the recognition that racism (interpersonal and institutional) is only one source of stress. As a practical matter, researchers typically lack adequate information to determine the extent to which other stressors are race-related or not but must seek to characterize all stressors. Thus, understanding the potential contribution of stressful life experiences to racial disparities in health necessitates the assessment of perceived discrimination and a systematic effort to assess race-related and other social, psychological and environmental (physical and chemical) stressors that respondents face.
