A Life Course Perspective on How Racism May Be Related to Health Inequities

TLDR

Racism is increasingly recognized as a driver of health inequities, yet its life‑course dynamics across institutions from infancy to old age remain underexplored. The authors propose a life‑course framework that conceptualizes how racism structures individuals’ time in asset‑building versus disadvantaged contexts, thereby influencing health inequities. The framework incorporates age‑patterned exposures, sensitive periods, linked lives, latency, stress proliferation, historic periods, and cohort effects. The authors find that differential timing and exposure to racism across the life course generate racial disparities in life expectancy and other health outcomes, persisting across generations.

Abstract

Recent studies show that racism may influence health inequities. As individuals grow from infancy into old age, they encounter social institutions that may create new exposures to racial bias. Yet, few studies have considered this idea fully. We suggest a framework that shows how racism and health inequities may be viewed from a life course perspective. It applies the ideas of age-patterned exposures, sensitive periods, linked lives, latency period, stress proliferation, historic period, and cohorts. It suggests an overarching idea that racism can structure one's time in asset-building contexts (e.g., education) or disadvantaged contexts (e.g., prison). This variation in time and exposure can contribute to racial inequities in life expectancy and other health outcomes across the life course and over generations.