People start out with roughly 8,000 base pairs and they wear down at a rate of 50 to 100 every year. Among black men who had internalized strong anti-black biases, those who experienced high levels of racial discrimination had on average 140 fewer base pairs of telomeres than those who reported low levels of racial discrimination. The combination of high levels of external racial discrimination and internalized anti-black attitudes was a toxic mix.
Researchers found, on the other hand, that there was a slightpositive relationship between experiences of discrimination and telomere length in black men who had strong pro-black biases. That is, a positive racial identity could act as a kind of psychological buffer against the ravages of racism.
Testing the Unconscious
To get results, researchers surveyed subjects and asked them to gauge their experience with being discriminated against in nine venues, including criminal justice, education, health care, work and housing. To measure unconscious attitudes, researchers separately used the Implicit Association Test. This test flashes images of black and white people in front of respondents, and measures how quickly respondents associate each face with positive and negative characteristics. The faster the response, the more deep-seated the association.