Racism is the racial and cultural discrimination which is still affecting the people worldwide. Recent studies have shown that racism has negative effects on human health and wellbeing which can lead to a severe form of a heart condition and mental health.
The first institute to perform a detailed analysis on this was the American Academy of Pediatric which issued a statement stating about how Racism has been contaminating the youth.
It has a wide data available about what health outcomes could it lead in children and younger individuals.
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An Australian study has over 800 children gathered from the secondary school who experienced severe mental stress after confronting racism.
There were other things which were included:
- Feelings of despair, anger and being left alone
- Physical trauma symptoms including tremors, sweating, increased heart rate, and headache
- Unwilling to go back to school
- Fright for verbal and physical abuse
- Loss of trust everyone other than family
These factors can certainly prevent anyone from functioning properly whether at school or a professional workplace.
One of the victims who acknowledged racism as quite daunting, says “Racism makes me question myself and why things have to be this way … I wondered one day what it would be like to be white and how much better my life would probably be. That was a low point.
Science Behind Feeling Fear for Racism
Upon racism, the stress receptors in our body trigger as they prepare the body to compensate.
In this situation, the body increases the heart rate, sweats secretion and stress hormones. In earlier ages, this triggering reaction helped humanity to outrun their enemies of the hunter.
These days we get into this situation when someone verbal abuse is a form of racism or discrimination.
Individual with unique and different skin color experience racism quite frequently.
This induces an inflammatory reaction in their bodies which can lead to a heart problem and another form of chronic diseases.
Many studies have been done on this single aspect which now states that racial differences can have dangerous effects on early child development and increase the rate of frequently occurring diseases with exacerbated mental problems.
How Racism Affects Children’s Personality?
Once it starts happening frequently, racism can bring down the confidence level of many children in a glimpse which doesn’t let them perform very well in the educational ground.
Their grades in school begin to fall and the discrimination is still going inside their minds, this can be stressing for many parents who have experienced the same type of culture and race judgmental statements.
Many parents observed the behavior of their children was entirely changed after being subjected to bullies and racism.
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How to Face Racism? Advices for Pediatricians
The international policies against racism suggest all the physician and pediatricians should address this issue.
They must welcome each and everyone in their facility where children are provided a safe and sound environment with different colored toys and pictures, these can change their perception about the racism and enable them to confront the situation with strong will power.
It also includes promoting quality education in every community which has access to various mental health services.
Instead of confining the youth for crimes, they must have alternatives to those with fair housing and diverse school staff.
Racism Psychology Explained
Dr. Anthony Ong’s, one of the brilliant Cornell psychologist emphasis on the INTERACTION of different social, emotional and cognitive resources which many people find as the reason for emotional distress as they age.
These factors have prominent effects on the health, by addressing these aspects of the society he along with other trained professional is spreading the awareness which improves the health and wellbeing of youth who are in the minority.
“As a psychologist, I study the ways in which interpersonal racism can have harmful consequences for people’s’ life chances, including their psychological and physical health,” he said.
“However, it’s important to keep in mind that perhaps the most profound effects of racism occur via macro-level systems or public policies that shape access to social and economic resources.
These are the systems that produce and reproduce everyday racism and its ill effects through time.”
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Thoughts
Racism is a damaging feature of the society which affects people of every age.
The attachment is with the different cultures which have been infecting people’s mind for centuries. All it needs is a proper education system which can mend society in the best possible way.
Whereas in children, it acts as a confidence lowering trait which affects emotional, physical and cognitive health.
References
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/144/2/e20201765
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190531100558.htm
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6664-x
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/well/family/the-impact-of-racism-on-childrens-health.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/racism-has-devastating-effects-on-childrens-health-pediatricians-warn/2019/08/02/ce5fc96a-b313-11e9-8f6c-7828e68cb15f_story.html