Viral Racism via Videos: A Study of Asians' Experiences of Interpersonal Discrimination Because of COVID-19.

This study analyzes five publicly posted videos wherein Asians experience interpersonal discrimination because of COVID-19. We think social scientists ignore how videos provide data for investigating interpersonal discrimination. We characterize the videos according to multiple features including context, characteristics, and responses of individuals involved, type of threat or mistreatment, and level of psychological and physical harm. We then summarize features across the videos. Among other things, analyses uncover implicit, explicit, and historically specific anti-Asian sentiment alongside evidence perpetrators are men and bystanders do not intervene typically. The Discussion contrasts Asians' experiences of interpersonal discrimination because of COVID-19 against the interpersonal and institutional discrimination faced by American Indians, blacks, and Hispanics in the United States. That contrast brings Asians' positionality into sharp relief.

"Yes We Can!" The Mental Health Significance for U.S. Black Adults of Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Election.

This study examines the mental health significance of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election for black adults. His election was a milestone moment. Hence, we expect black adults would experience improved mental health after the first self-identified black person wins election to the most powerful position in the United States. Using nationally representative survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), we address this expectation by predicting poor mental health days that black adults report pre-election and post-election. We find no overall difference in poor mental health days between the time periods. However, a statistical interaction between gender and time period demonstrates black men report 1.01 fewer poor mental health days after the election, whereas black women report .45 more poor mental health days after the election.

A tale of two generations: Maternal skin color and adverse birth outcomes in Black/African American women.

We examined how sociopolitical context (marked by generational cohort) and maternal skin color interacted to influence preterm delivery (PTD) rates in sample of Black women. Data were from 1410 Black women, ages 18-45 years, residing in Metropolitan Detroit, MI enrolled (2009-2011) in the Life-course Influences on Fetal Environments (LIFE) Study. Because we hypothesized that generational differences marked by changes in the sociopolitical context would influence exposure to racism, we categorized women into two cohorts by maternal birth year: a) Generation X, 1964-1983 and b) Millennial, 1984-1993. Descriptive results showed similar PTD rates by generational cohort, Generation X: 16.3% vs. Millennials: 16.1%. Yet, within each generation, PTD rates varied by women's skin tone (categorized: light, medium, and dark brown). Poisson regression models confirmed a significant interaction between generational cohort and maternal skin tone predicting PTD (P = 0.001); suggesting a salubrious association between light brown skin tone (compared to medium and dark) and PTD for Generation X. However, Millennials with medium and dark brown skin experienced lower PTD rates than their light Millennial counterparts. Research should consider sociopolitical context and the salience of skin tone bias when investigating racial health disparities, including those in perinatal health.

How Incarceration Influences Native-Born Black Men's Risk of Obesity.

Objective: To build upon research that investigates the health significance of familial and former incarceration with special emphasis on obesity risk among native-born Black (ie, African American) men. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2001-2003 National Survey of American Life (NSAL), focusing on native-born Black men (n=1140), the demographic group that bears the brunt of mass incarceration. The outcome of interest was obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI)>30. Principal predictors were familial and former incarceration, and their statistical interaction. Results: In survey-adjusted binomial logistic regression models, familial incarceration appeared an unimportant predictor; whereas, former incarceration associated with a lower risk of obesity. However, former incarceration modifies the association between familial incarceration and obesity, such that native-born Black men experiencing both familial and former incarceration were significantly more likely to be obese. Conclusions: Public health researchers should treat former incarceration with greater care in studies including native-born Black men because time spent incarcerated has lingering physical health significance.

State-level climate, anti-discrimination law, and sexual minority health status: An ecological study.

How social and legal climate influence LGB health is an under-studied topic. In response, this study examines whether the lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) climate index and presence of anti-discrimination law show population health significance for U.S. sexual minorities. The LGB climate index uses survey data collected between 2012 and 2013 to gauge states' support of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, whereas anti-discrimination law captures any state-level law that makes it illegal to discriminate because of sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodations. We merge these two contextual measures with 2011-2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) aggregated, individual-level survey data, from which we generate three measures of state-level rates: excellent self-rated health, routine health care utilization, and health insurance among self-identified lesbian/gay and bisexual adults. We find that the LGB climate index associates positively with rates of excellent self-rated health, routine health care utilization, and health insurance-but only for states with anti-discrimination laws, and only among lesbian/gay adults. Analyses confirm salubrious synergism between a sexually-minority-friendly climate and anti-discrimination law-together these two contextual measures interact to protect lesbian/gay population health.

Race, Socioeconomic Position, and Physical Health: A Descriptive Analysis.

A substantial and long-standing body of research supports the widely held conclusion that socioeconomic position (SEP) is a primary determinant of physical health risk. However, supporting evidence derives almost entirely from studies of dominantly white populations, and more recent research suggests that this relationship may vary across race-ethnicity. This article considers the extent to which such evidence applies to African Americans. It does so by examining the within-race relationships between SEP and physical health utilizing alternative research definitions of health and a nearly exhaustive array of measures of SEP. The results offer minimal support for SEP as a fundamental cause of disease among African Americans. They do not challenge the widely held view that health differences are rooted in the fundamental conditions of social context and experience. Rather, they indicate that these conditions tend to be defined more by being black than by being of lower SEP.

Imprisoned by Empathy: Familial Incarceration and Psychological Distress among African American Men in the National Survey of American Life.

The stress process model predicts that current incarceration of a family member should damage the health status of the inmate's relatives. We address this prediction with data from the National Survey of American Life, focusing exclusively on African American men (n = 1,168). In survey-adjusted generalized linear models, we find that familial incarceration increases psychological distress, but its effect attenuates ostensibly after controlling for other chronic strains. Familial incarceration remains statistically insignificant with the introduction of mastery and family emotional support and their respective interactions with familial incarceration. However, a statistical interaction between familial incarceration and former incarceration reveals that levels of psychological distress are significantly higher among never-incarcerated respondents whose family members are incarcerated but significantly lower among formerly incarcerated respondents whose family members are incarcerated. We conclude that familial incarceration's influence on black men's mental health status may be more complex than extant theory predicts.

Minority Underrepresentation in Academia: Factors Impacting Careers of Surgery Residents.

BACKGROUND: Underrepresentation of minorities within academic surgery is an ever present problem with a profound impact on healthcare. The factors influencing surgery residents to pursue an academic career have yet to be formally investigated. We sought to elucidate these factors, with a focus on minority status. METHODS: A web-based questionnaire was sent to all administered to all ACGME-accredited general surgery programs in the United States. The main outcome was the decision to pursue a fully academic versus non-academic career. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify characteristics impacting career choice. RESULTS: Of the 3,726 residents who received the survey, a total of 1,217 residents completed it - a response rate of 33%. Forty-seven percent planned to pursue non-academic careers, 35% academic careers, and 18% were undecided. There was no association between underrepresented minority status and academic career choice (Odds Ratio = 1.0, 95% Confidence Interval 0.6 - 1.6). Among all residents, research during training (OR=4.0, 95% CI 2.7-5.9), mentorship (OR=2.1, 95% CI 1.6-2.9), and attending a residency program requiring research (OR=2.3, 95% CI 1.5-3.4) were factors associated with choosing an academic career. When the analysis was performed among only senior residents (i.e., 4th and 5th year residents), a debt burden >$150,000 was associated with choosing a non-academic career (OR=0.4, 95% CI 0.1-0.9). CONCLUSIONS: Underrepresented minority status is not associated with career choice. Intentional recruitment of minorities into research-oriented training programs, increased mentorship and research support among current minority residents, and improved financial options for minorities may increase the number choosing an academic surgical career.

Social environmental stressors, psychological factors, and kidney disease.

Kidney disease is one of the most striking examples of health disparities in American public health. Disparities in the prevalence and progression of kidney disease are generally thought to be a function of group differences in the prevalence of kidney disease risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. However, the presence of these comorbidities does not completely explain the elevated rate of progression from chronic kidney disease (CKD) to end-stage renal disease among high-risk populations such as African Americans. We believe that the social environment is an important element in the pathway from CKD risk factors to CKD and end-stage renal disease. This review of the literature draws heavily from social science and social epidemiology to present a conceptual frame specifying how social, economic, and psychosocial factors interact to affect the risks for and the progression of kidney disease.

Differentiating Contemporary Racial Prejudice from Old-Fashioned Racial Prejudice.

The present study addresses the distinction between contemporary and old-fashioned prejudice using survey data from a national sample (n=600) of self-identified whites living in the United States and interviewed by telephone in 2001. First, we examine associations among indicators of contemporary and old-fashioned prejudice. Consistent with the literature, contemporary and old-fashioned prejudice indicators represent two distinct but correlated common factors. Second, we examine whether belief in genetic race differences uniformly predicts both types of prejudice. As might be expected, belief in genetic race differences predicts old-fashioned prejudice but contrary to recent theorizing, it also predicts contemporary prejudice.

Communication patterns in medical encounters for the treatment of child psychosocial problems: does pediatrician-parent concordance matter?

This study examined how pediatrician-parent social status concordance related to communication patterns in medical encounters during which children received treatment for psychosocial problems indicating attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Using data from 28 pediatric medical encounters occurring in a large southeastern metropolitan city during 2003, we focused on concordance according to race, gender, and education, and its relation to laughter, concern, self-disclosure, question asking, and information-giving utterances, and patient-centeredness. Results indicated that race-concordant pediatricians and parents frequently laughed, whereas parents asked many biomedical questions in gender-concordant encounters. Education-concordant pediatricians and parents expressed concern repeatedly, exchanged biomedical information freely, and shared communication control. Pediatricians also self-disclosed when interacting with college-educated parents.

White Americans' Genetic Lay Theories of Race Differences and Sexual Orientation: Their Relationship with Prejudice toward Blacks, and Gay Men and Lesbians.

This study examined the relationship between White Americans' genetic explanations, conceptualized as genetic lay theories, for perceived racial differences and for sexual orientation, and attitudes toward Blacks, and gay men and lesbians, respectively. Considering contrasting public discourse surrounding race and sexual orientation, we predicted that genetic lay theories would be associated with greater prejudice toward Blacks, but less prejudice toward gay men and lesbians. The findings, based on a representative sample of 600 White Americans, were consistent with expectations. Results are discussed in relation to the literature on essentialism and implicit theories of the malleability of traits. The present research broadens our view of lay theories by showing how they support either prejudice or tolerance, depending on the target group.

Critical race theory speaks to the sociology of mental health: mental health problems produced by racial stratification.

The sociology of mental health focuses on the epidemiology, etiology, correlates, and consequences of mental health (i.e., psychiatric disorder and symptoms, psychological distress, and subjective well-being) in an attempt to describe and explain how social structure influences an individual's psychological health. Critical race theory describes and explains iterative ways in which race is socially constructed across micro- and macro-levels, and how it determines life chances implicating the mundane and extraordinary in the continuance of racial stratification (i.e., racism). This paper invoked critical race theory to inform the sociology of mental health's approach to studying race and mental health by conceptualizing five hypothetical mental health problems that could exist because of racial stratification. These problems were: (1) nihilistic tendencies, (2) anti-self issues, (3) suppressed anger expression, (4) delusional denial tendencies, and (5) extreme racial paranoia. Mental health problems such as these and undocumented others can only be recognized given awareness of the social and personal implications of racial stratification.

The influence of race and religion on abstinence from alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana among adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Past research has not fully explained why black youth are less likely than white youth to use alcohol and other substances. One plausible yet underexamined explanation is the "religion hypothesis," which posits that black youth are more likely than white youth to abstain because they are more religious than white youth. The present study tested this hypothesis empirically. METHOD: The study examined data from large, nationally representative samples of white and black 10th graders from the Monitoring the Future project. RESULTS: Relative to white students, black students are more likely to abstain from alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana and are more highly religious. Consistent with the "religiosity hypothesis," race differences in abstinence are substantially reduced when race differences in religiosity are controlled. Unexpectedly, however, highly religious white youth are more likely than highly religious black youth to abstain from alcohol and marijuana use. CONCLUSIONS: Although religion is an important protective factor against alcohol and other substance use for both white and black adolescents, it appears to impact white youth at an individual level, whereas for black youth the influence of religion seems greatest at the group level. Future research should seek to better understand the mechanisms through which religion promotes adolescents' abstinence from the use of drugs and should seek to explain why the magnitude of its effect varies for black and white adolescents.