Is skin color a marker for racial discrimination? Explaining the skin color-hypertension relationship

It is widely assumed that dark-skinned Blacks have higher rates of hyperten sion than their lighter-skinned cohorts because the former experience great er racial discrimination. However, there is no empirical evidence linking s kin color to discrimination. This study rested the extent to which skin col or is associated with differential exposure to discrimination for a sample of 300 Black adults. Results revealed that dark-skinned Blacks were 11 time s more likely to experience frequent racial discrimination than their light -skinned counterparts; 67% of subjects reporting high discrimination were d ark-skinned and only 8.5% were light-skinned. These preliminary findings su ggest that skirt color indeed may be a marker for racial discrimination and highlight the need to assess discrimination in studies of the skin color-h ypertension relationship.