Word of the day: weathering
Of course, you know this word in relation to the physical effect of weather on materials like wood or metal. But do you know the use of the word in relation to people, especially ethnic minorities, to describe the health effects of sustained discrimination?
This use of the word was first proposed by. Arline Geronimus, now a public health researcher and professor at the University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center in the United States.
As she puts it: “what I’ve seen over the years of my research and lifetime is that the stressors that impact people of color are chronic and repeated through their whole life course, and in fact may even be at their height in the young adult-through-middle-adult ages rather than in early life. And that increases a general health vulnerability — which is what weathering is.”
More information here.