Peer racial representation at school, social experiences, and inflammation among Black adolescents

In the United States, Black adults experience higher rates of chronic diseases compared with White adults. Low-grade inflammation is considered a key biological pathway underlying these disparities, and Black-White differences in inflammation have been observed as early as adolescence. However, the psychosocial predictors of low-grade inflammation for Black adolescents remain incompletely understood, with few studies examining how broader school-level factors shape psychosocial experiences that may contribute to low-grade inflammation. This longitudinal study examined (a) whether Black adolescents attending schools with a lower (vs. higher) proportion of Black students would experience greater discrimination and loneliness and (b) whether discrimination and loneliness, in turn, predicted low-grade inflammation 1 year later.

A sample of 306 Black adolescents (64% female, M_age = 17.6, range = 14-19) completed measures of discrimination and loneliness and provided blood samples to assess low-grade inflammation markers at baseline and 1 year later. School racial composition was obtained from the Department of Education databases.

Results showed that attending schools with a lower proportion of Black students was associated with more discrimination (ß = -.15) but not loneliness (ß = -.01). In turn, discrimination and, less robustly, loneliness independently predicted prospective increases in low-grade inflammation over 1 year (ßs = .14).

These findings suggest that, for Black adolescents, the racial composition of school environments may indirectly contribute to early disease risk by shaping their psychosocial experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).