摘要：Equity and social well-being considerations make Black–White health disparities an area of important concern. Although previous research suggests that discrimination- and poverty-related stressors play a role in African American health outcomes, the mechanisms are unclear. Allostatic load is a concept that can be employed to demonstrate how environmental stressors, including psychosocial ones, may lead to a cumulative physiological toll on the body. We discuss both the usefulness of this framework for understanding how discrimination can lead to worse health among African Americans, and the challenges for conceptualizing biological risk with existing data and methods. We also contrast allostatic load with theories of historical trauma such as posttraumatic slavery syndrome. Finally, we offer our suggestions for future interdisciplinary research on health disparities. THE BLACK–WHITE HEALTH gap is a long-standing problem of great concern to researchers and policymakers. Evidence from the social sciences and public health has suggested that discrimination- and poverty-related stressors can affect health outcomes among African Americans and other socially dispossessed groups. 1 , 2 However, the discrimination-based literature has not elucidated the precise mechanisms by which these stressors lead to worse health outcomes. To overcome these shortcomings, a field of research has emerged that integrates perspectives from the social and biological sciences. Allostatic load is a concept that can be used to demonstrate how environmental stressors, including psychosocial stressors, can lead to a cumulative physiological toll on the body. 3 We discuss the usefulness of this framework for understanding how discrimination can lead to worse health in African Americans, and we discuss the challenges for conceptualizing biological risk with existing data and methods. We also contrast the allostatic load framework with theories of historical trauma. These theories, such as posttraumatic slavery syndrome, purport to explain worse health and life outcomes among African Americans through the lens of cultural shortcomings caused by past injustices. Finally, we offer our suggestions for future research endeavors that incorporate perspectives from both the biological and social sciences.
