Substantial evidence documents the protective role of racial identity—or the meaning and significance that individuals attribute to race—among Black Americans, yet the impact of racial identity on physical health outcomes beyond young adulthood remains unclear. To clarify the extent to which racial identity remains influential for physical health across the life course, this study investigated the direct associations between discrimination, racial identity, and hypertension, whether racial identity buffered the negative effects of discrimination, and the extent to which these patterns varied among young (21-35), middle-aged (36-49), and older (50+) Black adults.
Data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (N=627) were used to examine two identity dimensions: “racial centrality” (i.e., importance of Black identity to one’s sense of self) and “closeness to other Black people” (COBP). Modified Poisson models estimated relationships between racial identity, discrimination, and hypertension. Interactions determined whether racial identity moderated the discrimination-hypertension association within and across age groups.
High centrality and moderate COBP were directly linked to elevated hypertension odds among young adults, but lower odds among older adults; racial identity was not directly associated with hypertension among middle-aged adults. Results also indicated that racial identity conditioned the discrimination-hypertension relationship in distinct ways across age groups.
Findings underscore the significance of racial identity as sources of both psychosocial vulnerability and resilience for minority aging. Clinicians and public health professionals should consider racial identity beyond young adulthood to promote healthy aging via hypertension management among Black Americans.