Abstract
This study examined whether Blacks who wrote about their experiences with racial discrimination in a laboratory-based disclosure intervention would show greater levels of antibody production in response to an influenza vaccine compared with Blacks who wrote about a neutral topic. Forty-seven participants were randomized to write about their thoughts and feelings around their experiences with racism, or to write about their schedule for the week. Participants wrote on the same topic during each of three 20-min sessions. Blood was drawn prior to the intervention and at 1 and 3 months postvaccination to assess antibody production. Participants in the racism disclosure group produced significantly less antibodies to 2 of 3 viral strains. Post hoc analysis suggests that participants who were unsure about whether their events were due to racism or due to other factors had reduced levels of antibody to 1 viral strain. The attributional ambiguity sometimes associated with racism may inhibit the benefits of disclosure interventions for these types of stressors.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Affleck, G., Tennen, H., Croog, S., & Levine, S. (1987). Causal attribution, perceived benefits, and morbidity after a heart attack: An 8-year study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 29–35.
Bower, J. E., Kemeny, M. E., Taylor, S. E., & Fahey, J. L. (1998). Cognitive processing, discovery of meaning, CD4 decline, and AIDS-related mortality among bereaved HIV-seropositive men. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 979–986.
Breiman, R. F., Keller, D. W., Phelan, M. A., Sniadack, D. H., Stephens, D. S., Rimland, D., et al. (2000). Evaluation of effectiveness of the 23-valent pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine for HIV-infected patients. Archives of Internal Medicine, 160, 2633–2638.
Clark, R., Anderson, N. B., Clark, V. R., & Williams, D. R. (1999). Racism as a stressor for African Americans: A biopsychosocial model. American Psychologist, 54, 805–816.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. W., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385–396.
Cohen, S., Miller, G. E., & Rabin, B. E. (2001). Psychological stress and antibody response to immunization: A critical review of the human literature. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63, 7–18.
Cohen, S., Tyrrell, D. A., & Smith, A. P. (1991). Psychological stress and susceptibility to the common cold. New England Journal of Medicine, 325, 606–612.
Cox, J. H., de Souza, M., Ratto-Kim, S., Ferrari, G., Weinhold, K. J., & Birx, D. L. (2002). Cellular immune assays for evaluation of vaccine efficacy in developing countries. In N. R. Rose, R. G. Hamilton, & B. Detrick (Eds), Manual of Clinical Laboratory Immunology (pp. 301–317). Washington, DC: ASM Press.
Crocker, J., Voelkl, K., Testa, M., & Major, B. (1991). Social stigma: The affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 218–228.
Esterling, B. A., Antoni, M. H., Fletcher, M. A., Margulies, S., & Schneiderman, N. (1994). Emotional disclosure through writing or speaking modulates latent Epstein-Barr virus antibody titers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 130–140.
Gornick, M. E., Eggers, P. W., Reilly, T. W., Mentnech, R. M., Fitterman, L. K., Kucken, L. E., et al. (1996). Effects of race and income on mortality and use of service among Medicare beneficiaries. The New England Journal of Medicine, 335, 791–799.
Granoff, D. M., Pandey, J. P., Boies, E., Squires, J., Munson, R. S., & Suarez, B. (1984). Response to immunization with Haemophilus influenzae type b pollycassharide-pertussis vaccine and risk of Haemophilus meningitis in children with the Km(1) immunoglobulin allotype. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 74, 1708–1714.
Herbert, T. B., & Cohen, S.(1993). Stress and immunity in humans: A meta-analytic review. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 364–379.
Leserman, J., Jackson, E., Petitto, J., Golden, R., Silva, S., Perkins, D., et al. (1999). Progression to AIDS: The effects of stress, depressive symptoms, and social support. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61, 397–406.
Major, B., & Crocker, J. (1993). Social stigma: The consequences of attributional ambiguity. In D. M. Mackie & D. L. Hamilton (Eds.), Affect, cognition, and stereotyping: Interactive processes in group participation (pp. 345–370). San Diego: Academic.
Major, B., Kaiser, C., & McCoy, S. (2003). It’s not my fault: When and why attributions to prejudice protect self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 772–781.
McNair, D. M., Lorr, M., & Droppleman, L. F. (1971). Profile of mood states. San Diego, CA: Education and Industrial Publishing Service.
Miller, G. E., & Cohen, S. (2001). Psychological interventions and the immune system: A meta-analytic review and critique. Health Psychology, 20, 47–63.
Miller, G. E., Cohen, S., Pressman, S., Barkin, A., Rabin, B., & Treanor, J. (2004). Psychological stress and antibody production to influenza vaccination: When is the critical period for stress, and how does it get inside the body? Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 215–223.
Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Confession, inhibition and disease. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 211–244). New York: Academic.
Pennebaker, J. W., & Keough, K. A. (1999). Revealing, organizing, and reorganizing the self in response to stress and emotion. In R. J. Contrada & R. D. Ashmore (Eds.), Self, social identity and physical health (pp. 101–124). New York: Oxford University Press.
Petrie, K. J., Booth, R. J., Pennebaker, J. W., Davison, K. P., & Thomas, M. G. (1995). Disclosure of trauma and immune response to a Hepatitis B vaccination program. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 787–792.
Richardus, J. H., & Kunst, A. E. (2001). Black-White differences in infectious disease mortality in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1251–1253.
Ross, M., & Wilson, A. E. (2002). It feels like yesterday: Self-esteem, valence of personal past experiences, and judgments of subjective distance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 792–803.
Schneider, E. C., Cleary, P. D., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Epstein, A. M. (2001). Racial disparity in influenza vaccination: Does managed care narrow the gap between African Americans and Whites? Journal of the American Medical Association, 286, 1455–1460.
Schneider, K. T., Hitlan, R. T., & Radhakrishnan, P. (2000). An examination of the nature and correlates of ethnic harassment experiences in multiple contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 3–12.
Segerstrom, S., & Miller, G. E. (2004). Stress and the immune system: A meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychological Bulletin.
Smyth, J. M. (1998). Written emotional expression: Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 174–184.
Song, C. (2001). Anxiety and the immune system: The modulation of benzodiazepines. Stress & Health, 17, 129–131.
Taylor, S. E. (1983). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation. American Psychologist, 38, 1161–1173.
Usala, P. D., & Hertzog, C. (1989). Measurement of affective states in adults: Evaluation of an adjective rating scale instrument. Research on Aging, 11, 403–426.
Vedhara, K., Cox, N. K., Wilcock, G. K., Perks, P., Hunt, M., Anderson, S., et al., (1999). Chronic stress in elderly caregivers of dementia patients and antibody response to influenza vaccination. Lancet, 353, 627–631.
Williams, D. R., & Collins, C. (1995). US socioeconomic and racial differences in health: Patterns and explanations. Annual Review of Sociology, 21, 349–386.
Williams, D. R., Yu, Y., & Jackson, J. S. (1997). Racial differences in physical and mental health: Socio-economic status, stress and discrimination. Journal of Health Psychology, 2, 335–351.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stetler, C., Chen, E. & Miller, G.E. Written disclosure of experiences with racial discrimination and antibody response to an influenza vaccine. Int. J. Behav. Med. 13, 60–68 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1301_8
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1301_8