Color Me Bad? Scientist Calls Negative Stereotypes a ‘Threat’ to Black Health

February 3, 2017

If current diagnosis rates continue, approximately one in 20 black men, one in 48 black women and one in two black gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetimes, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projections. CDC estimates show that African-Americans account for almost half (44 percent in 2010) of all new infections and represent more than one-third (40 percent or 498,400 persons in 2013) of all people living with HIV.

While the disease that emerged in the late 80s as a “white gay male disease” has clearly reached epidemic levels in black and brown communities, one University of Southern California scientist insists that stereotypes – ones consciously and unconsciously perpetuated by healthcare providers can be internalized by members of marginalized groups, such as people of color, women who seek to have children later in life and older, poor and LGBTQ people – and it may literally be making them sicker.

With collaborator Dr. Adam Fingherhut of Loyola Marymount University, Dr. Cleopatra Abdou, was the first to lead an experimental study about how stereotypes – specifically “healthcare stereotype threat” – is directly linked to health outcomes among marginalized groups, including black people.

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