The association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and child executive functions is well-documented. However, few studies have examined the role of potential mediators and moderators. We studied the independent and interactive associations between family SES and single parenthood to predict child executive functions of inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory and examined child expressive language abilities and family home environment as potential mediators of these associations. Sixty families from diverse SES backgrounds with a school-age target child (mean [SD] age = 9.9 [0.96] years) were evaluated. Child executive functioning was measured using a brief battery. The quality of the home environment was evaluated using the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment inventory. Family SES predicted the three child executive functions under study. Single parent and family SES were interactively associated with children's inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility; such that children from low SES families who were living with one parent performed less well on executive function tests than children from similarly low SES who were living with two parents. Parental responsivity, enrichment activities and family companionship mediated the association between family SES and child inhibitory control and working memory. This study demonstrates that family SES inequalities are associated with inequalities in home environments and with inequalities in child executive functions. The impact of these disparities as they unfold in the lives of typically developing children merits further investigation and understanding.
This exploratory study's findings support the need for measures reflecting the complexity of childbearing African-American women's racism experiences. In addition to discrete, interpersonal experiences across multiple domains and active/passive responses, which have been measured, birth outcomes research should also measure women's childhood experiences and their potentially enduring impact, perceptions of institutionalized racism and internalized negative stereotypes, vicarious experiences related to their children, vigilance in anticipating future racism events, as well as the pervasiveness and chronicity of racism exposure, all of which could be sources of ongoing stress with potentially serious implications for birth outcomes. Measures of racism addressing these issues should be developed and formally tested.
Background
Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is an indicator of general systemic
aging, with shorter LTL being associated with several chronic diseases of
aging and earlier mortality. Identifying factors related to LTL among
African Americans may yield insights into mechanisms underlying racial
disparities in health.
Purpose
To test whether the combination of more frequent reports of racial
discrimination and holding a greater implicit anti-black racial bias is
associated with shorter LTL among African-American men.
Methods
Cross-sectional study of a community sample of 92 African-American
men aged between 30 and 50 years. Participants were recruited from February
to May 2010. Ordinary least squares regressions were used to examine LTL in
kilobase pairs in relation to racial discrimination and implicit racial
bias. Data analysis was completed in July 2013.
Results
After controlling for chronologic age, socioeconomic, and
health-related characteristics, the interaction between racial
discrimination and implicit racial bias was significantly associated with
LTL (b= −0.10, SE=0.04, p=0.02). Those demonstrating
a stronger implicit anti-black bias and reporting higher levels of racial
discrimination had the shortest LTL. Household income-to-poverty threshold
ratio was also associated with LTL (b=0.05, SE=0.02,
p<0.01).
Conclusions
Results suggest that multiple levels of racism, including
interpersonal experiences of racial discrimination and the internalization
of negative racial bias, operate jointly to accelerate biological aging
among African-American men. Societal efforts to address racial
discrimination in concert with efforts to promote positive in-group racial
attitudes may protect against premature biological aging in this
population.
Background-Screening for alcohol and drug use in prenatal care is widely promoted in the United States as a public health strategy for reducing alcohol and drug use during pregnancy. However, the published literature does not consider women's perspectives or the potential negative ramifications of screening.
Despite well-documented associations between everyday racial discrimination and depression, mechanisms underlying this association among African-American men are poorly understood. Guided by the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, we frame masculine self-reliance and John Henryism as appraisal mechanisms that influence the relationship between racial discrimination, a source of significant psychosocial stress, and depressive symptoms among African-American men. We also investigate whether the proposed relationships vary by reported discrimination-specific coping responses. Participants were 478 African-American men recruited primarily from barbershops in the West and South regions of the United States. Multiple linear regression and Sobel-Goodman mediation analyses were used to examine direct and mediated associations between our study variables. Racial discrimination and masculine self-reliance were positively associated with depressive symptoms, though the latter only among active responders. John Henryism was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, mediated the masculine self-reliance–depressive symptom relationship, and among active responders moderated the racial discrimination-depressive symptoms relationship. Though structural interventions are essential, clinical interventions designed to mitigate the mental health consequences of racial discrimination among African-American men should leverage masculine self-reliance and active coping mechanisms.
An abundance of research has documented health inequalities by race and socioeconomic position (SEP) in the United States. However, conceptual and methodological challenges complicate the interpretation of study findings, thereby limiting progress in understanding health inequalities and in achieving health equity. Fundamental to these challenges is a lack of clarity about what race is and the implications of that ambiguity for scientific inquiry. Additionally, there is wide variability in how SEP is conceptualized and measured, resulting in a lack of comparability across studies and significant misclassification of risk. The objectives of this review are to synthesize the literature regarding common approaches to examining race and SEP health inequalities and to discuss the conceptual and methodological challenges associated with how race and SEP have been employed in 169
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