Associations Between Maternal Experiences of Discrimination and Biomarkers of Toxic Stress in School-Aged Children.

Vicarious racism, or indirect exposure to discrimination experienced by caregivers, is associated with poor health outcomes for children. Immune pathways may be a biological mechanism through which racial discrimination "gets under the skin," but additional research is needed to fully understand these relationships. Uncovering the physiological mechanisms linking vicarious racism with child health is an important step towards understanding possible early roots of racial and ethnic health inequities.