Education

Different populations and races have proven that low education levels display a correlation between poor health, stress, and self-confidence which stems from race and/or racism being a major contributor. The factors of education were well discussed in Gravlee’s article discussing “Genetic Ancestry, Cultural Classification, and Hypertension in Puerto Rico” concerning the interaction between color and SES on SBP displaying that when income and education are low there wasn’t much classification (whether you were Negro or Blanco) and everyone had the same blood pressure (Gravlee et al., 2009). However, when observing that as income and education increased, they would have higher blood pressure if you were Negro and lower blood pressure if you were Blanco/Trigueño (Gravlee et al., 2009).

Therefore, in classical statistical interaction, according to SES high SES would see that Negro individuals in Puerto Rico would have higher blood pressure (Gravlee et al., 2009). This is because individuals with high SES experience more interactions of racism (more interactions with white people, entering more jobs) which could be a discriminatory nature which can be more stressful. Another possibility would be that higher SES report more discrimination and are more aware of their education. When it comes to biological differences between racial groups, Non’s article, “Education, Genetic Ancestry, and Blood Pressure in African Americans and Whites” integrated education alongside ancestry and found that education mattered more than genetic ancestry when predicting blood pressure among African-Americans (Non et al., 2012).

For instance, if an African American individual had more than a high school degree they would have a greater reduction in blood pressure than if they were white. Although due to African ancestry you were born with higher blood pressure however it would reduce at a steeper rate if you were African American compared to White. Hence, there were biological differences between racial groups.