Origins
Geronimus (1992) noticed birth outcomes for Black women worsened from the teens to the late twenties, unlike for white women, and argued social adversity weathers the body.
Biological evidence
Geronimus and colleagues (2006) found allostatic load scores rose earlier among Black Americans, and Geronimus and colleagues (2010) found telomere evidence of accelerated ageing. McEwen (1998) described the damage of chronic stress, linked to stress theory.
Significance
A systematic review by Forde and colleagues (2019) found broad support, and Williams and Mohammed (2009) reviewed discrimination's health effects. The idea links life course accumulation, intersectionality and the social determinants of health.
FAQ
- What is weathering in simple terms?
- Long exposure to stress like racism and poverty makes the body age early.
- How is it measured?
- With allostatic load scores combining biomarkers, or telomere length.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Geronimus, A. T. (1992). The weathering hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: Evidence and speculations. Ethnicity & Disease, 2(3), 207–221. The original statement.
- Geronimus, A. T., Hicken, M., Keene, D., & Bound, J. (2006). "Weathering" and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 96(5), 826–833. Tests weathering with allostatic load.
- Geronimus, A. T., Hicken, M. T., Pearson, J. A., Seashols, S. J., Brown, K. L., & Cruz, T. D. (2010). Do US Black women experience stress-related accelerated biological aging? Human Nature, 21(1), 19–38. Telomere evidence of accelerated ageing.
- Forde, A. T., Crookes, D. M., Suglia, S. F., & Demmer, R. T. (2019). The weathering hypothesis as an explanation for racial disparities in health: A systematic review. Annals of Epidemiology, 33, 1–18. A systematic review.
- Williams, D. R., & Mohammed, S. A. (2009). Discrimination and racial disparities in health: Evidence and needed research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32(1), 20–47. Review of discrimination and health.
- McEwen, B. S. (1998). Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine, 338(3), 171–179. Physiology of chronic stress.
- Phelan, J. C., Link, B. G., & Tehranifar, P. (2010). Social conditions as fundamental causes of health inequalities: Theory, evidence, and policy implications. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(Suppl.), S28–S40. Fundamental cause theory.