Over the past 18 months, systemic and structural discrimination have received widespread—and, let’s face it, much-needed—media attention and public discussion. But what hasn’t had the same level of attention is interpersonal discrimination. The nasty comments. The othering. The exclusion—not at the hands of a faceless bureaucracy, but in our own communities, between individual people. Now, many of us were raised with a sort of “sticks and stones can break our bones, but words can never hurt us” sort of bravado. But what if words, and actions, about our personal appearance, race, gender, and age did create long-term harm? What if instead of simple slights that we should shrug off, these were recognized as vulnerabilities for the development of mental illness or substance abuse in young adulthood? We spoke with Yvonne Lei, a medical student at UCLA and lead researcher on a study of interpersonal discrimination and its effects on young adults.
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Yvonne Lei is a medical student at David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles
Lei, Yvonne, et al. “Discrimination and subsequent mental health, substance use, and well-being in young adults.” Pediatrics 148.6 (2021).
“Discrimination increases risk for mental health issues in young adults, UCLA-led study finds,” by Evelyn Tokuyama, UCLA Newsroom, November 7, 2021
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