- Oxford Library of Psychology
- The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health
- Dedication
- About the Editors
- Preface
- Contributors
- Stigma and Its Implications for Health: Introduction and Overview
- Physical Health Disparities and Stigma: Race, Sexual Orientation, and Body Weight
- Stigma as a Fundamental Cause of Health Inequality
- Power, Status, and Stigma: Their Implications for Health
- Stigma, Social Identity Threat, and Health
- Structural Stigma and Health
- Discriminating Ecologies: A Life History Approach to Stigma and Health
- Segregation, Stigma, and Stratification: A Biosocial Model
- Racial Discrimination and Racial Disparities in Health
- Patient Stigma, Medical Interactions, and Health Care Disparities: A Selective Review
- Interpersonal Discrimination and Physical Health
- Biopsychosocial Mechanisms Linking Discrimination to Health: A Focus on Social Cognition
- Neural and Cardiovascular Pathways from Stigma to Suboptimal Health
- Affective Reactions as Mediators of the Relationship Between Stigma and Health
- When Stigma Is Concealable: The Costs and Benefits for Health
- Social Identity, Stigma, and Health
- Social Stigma and Health: An Identity-Based Motivation Perspective
- Parenting as a Buffer That Deters Discrimination and Race-Related Stressors from “Getting Under the Skin”: Theories, Findings, and Future Directions
- Perceived Racial Discrimination and Health Behavior: Mediation and Moderation
- Stigma, Health, and Individual Differences
- Getting Underneath the Power of “Contact”: Revisiting the Fundamental Lever of Stigma as a Social Network Phenomenon
- Reducing Physical Illness Stigma: Insights from the Mental Illness Arena
- Public Health with a Punch: Fear, Stigma, and Hard-Hitting Media Campaigns
- Public Health and Social Justice: An Argument Against Stigma as a Tool of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
- Stigma and the “Social Epidemic” of HIV: Understanding Bidirectional Mechanisms of Risk and Resilience
- Sexual Minority Stigma and Health
- The Negative and Bidirectional Effects of Weight Stigma on Health
- Mental and Physical Health Consequences of the Stigma Associated with Mental Illnesses
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter reviews research from the emerging field of social neuroscience to examine the underlying mechanisms that explain why stigma and discrimination lead to suboptimal health outcomes. The review is structured around three pathways through which stigmatization has negative effects on physical health, and it discusses neural and cardiovascular processes associated with (1) the stress that being a target of discrimination elicits, (2) impaired self-regulation of health behavior among targets of discrimination, and (3) how intergroup dynamics during interactions between health care provider and patient can result in suboptimal health care for stigmatized individuals. The insights offered by the neuroscience perspective provide crucial information on how to interrupt the downward stigma–health spiral and can inform policy to reduce the impact of stigma and discrimination on the physical health of its targets.
Keywords: cardiovascular mechanisms, doctor–patient interactions, neural mechanisms, self-control, social neuroscience, social exclusion, stress and coping, social pain, suboptimal health behavior
Belle Derks, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Daan Scheepers, Department of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
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- Oxford Library of Psychology
- The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health
- Dedication
- About the Editors
- Preface
- Contributors
- Stigma and Its Implications for Health: Introduction and Overview
- Physical Health Disparities and Stigma: Race, Sexual Orientation, and Body Weight
- Stigma as a Fundamental Cause of Health Inequality
- Power, Status, and Stigma: Their Implications for Health
- Stigma, Social Identity Threat, and Health
- Structural Stigma and Health
- Discriminating Ecologies: A Life History Approach to Stigma and Health
- Segregation, Stigma, and Stratification: A Biosocial Model
- Racial Discrimination and Racial Disparities in Health
- Patient Stigma, Medical Interactions, and Health Care Disparities: A Selective Review
- Interpersonal Discrimination and Physical Health
- Biopsychosocial Mechanisms Linking Discrimination to Health: A Focus on Social Cognition
- Neural and Cardiovascular Pathways from Stigma to Suboptimal Health
- Affective Reactions as Mediators of the Relationship Between Stigma and Health
- When Stigma Is Concealable: The Costs and Benefits for Health
- Social Identity, Stigma, and Health
- Social Stigma and Health: An Identity-Based Motivation Perspective
- Parenting as a Buffer That Deters Discrimination and Race-Related Stressors from “Getting Under the Skin”: Theories, Findings, and Future Directions
- Perceived Racial Discrimination and Health Behavior: Mediation and Moderation
- Stigma, Health, and Individual Differences
- Getting Underneath the Power of “Contact”: Revisiting the Fundamental Lever of Stigma as a Social Network Phenomenon
- Reducing Physical Illness Stigma: Insights from the Mental Illness Arena
- Public Health with a Punch: Fear, Stigma, and Hard-Hitting Media Campaigns
- Public Health and Social Justice: An Argument Against Stigma as a Tool of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
- Stigma and the “Social Epidemic” of HIV: Understanding Bidirectional Mechanisms of Risk and Resilience
- Sexual Minority Stigma and Health
- The Negative and Bidirectional Effects of Weight Stigma on Health
- Mental and Physical Health Consequences of the Stigma Associated with Mental Illnesses
- Index
