How colorism gets “under the skin”: The role of ethnic-racial discrimination and diurnal cortisol in the physical health of African American and Latino young adults

Empirical research has identified ethnic-racial discrimination as a fundamental driver of health disparities and a key contributor to poorer physical health outcomes among African American and Latino populations. Colorism–bias that generally privileges lighter skin over darker skin–has also been linked to adverse health outcomes; however, little to no research has explored how the intersection of colorism and racism “gets under the skin” to influence physical health, particularly among young adults . Grounded in an intersectional framework , the present study recognizes that multiple systems of oppression—namely racism and colorism—do not operate independently but intersect to uniquely impact individuals based on their racialized and phenotypic identities. Using a sample of African American and Latino young adults, the current study examined whether skin tone may be indirectly associated with poorer physical health due to its association with ethnic-racial discrimination and diurnal cortisol patterns. Findings indicated that darker skin young adults experienced more ethnic-racial discrimination, which in turn, was associated with flatter diurnal cortisol slopes. Flatter diurnal slopes were also marginally related to poorer self-reported health over time. Taken together, these results underscore the importance of applying an intersectional lens to understanding health disparities , highlighting how the interwoven impacts of colorism and racism function as sociocultural stressors that become biologically embedded, ultimately influencing the physical health of racially and ethnically marginalized young adults.