Social Relationships, Wealth, and Cardiometabolic Risk: Evidence from a National Longitudinal Study of U.S. Older Adults.

Objectives: To investigate multiple dimensions of social relationships related to biomarkers of cardiometabolic health and how their associations vary by wealth in older adults. Methods: Growth curve models were used to investigate the longitudinal associations between measures of both positive and negative social relationships and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2016 and the moderation of this association by wealth in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Results: Older adults with better social relationships had lower CMR on average. The protective effects of positive social relationships, however, waned at older ages, particularly for low-wealth individuals. Discussion: Our results suggest that good social relationships promote healthy aging by buffering against harmful cardiometabolic consequences of psychosocial stress, particularly among relatively wealthy individuals. Efforts to improve old age health would be more effective when focusing simultaneously on fostering social connections and boosting financial resources.

Meta-analysis of interpersonal discrimination and health-related behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: This article comprehensively examines the relationship between interpersonal discrimination (IPD) and health-related behavior (HB), expanding upon Pascoe and Richman's (2009) meta-analysis and research synthesis. METHOD: One hundred and twenty one articles providing zero-order correlations (or information allowing their calculation) between perceptions of IPD and a variety of HB outcomes were coded and analyzed using a random-effects meta-analysis model. One hundred and fifty six articles examining this relationship using multivariate models were also coded and summarized within a research synthesis. Subanalyses were performed for articles examining smoking, alcohol use/abuse, substance use/abuse, sexual risk, and diet/eating behaviors. Potential mediators of the IPD-HB relationship were also tallied when available. RESULTS: Compared to the original analysis, results suggest an overall attenuated but stable relationship between IPD and HBs. CONCLUSIONS: The documented meta-analytic associations between perceptions of IPD and a variety of HB provide supportive evidence for one pathway through which IPD heightens risk for negative physical health outcomes among marginalized groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Quantifying intersectionality: An important advancement for health inequality research.

BACKGROUND: Intersectionality is a powerful theoretical framework that is useful in describing the lived experiences of people with multiple marginalized statuses. By focusing on power and domination (e.g., racism, sexism), and the ways in which they are inextricably linked and mutually constructing, researchers can better understand experiences of all people, not just those with one or more master statuses. This framework is valuable in understanding how discrimination relates to health and in attempts to reduce health disparities. RATIONALE: Population health researchers have only recently begun to consider intersectionality in their theories and measurement (Bowleg, 2012), and have been hindered by the challenges of measuring and analyzing experiences of discrimination in intersectional ways. We need new methodological strategies to enable empirical research to catch up with theoretical advances. CONCLUSIONS: The pair of articles in this issue by Scheim and Bauer (2019), and Bauer and Scheim (2019), offer important new data collection instruments and data analytic strategies to advance our ability to measure discrimination intersectionally. When using these new tools, it is important to not lose track of the origins and historical underpinnings of intersectionality and to focus on the transformative goal of intersectionality to eradicate inequality.

Repairing the Leaky Pipeline: A Motivationally Supportive Intervention to Enhance Persistence in Undergraduate Science Pathways.

The current study reports on the efficacy of a multi-faceted motivationally designed undergraduate enrichment summer program for supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) persistence. Structural equation modeling was used to compare summer program participants (n = 186), who participated in the program between their first and second years in college, to a propensity score matched comparison sample (n = 401). Participation in the summer program positively predicted science motivation (self-efficacy, task value), assessed eight months after the end of the program (second year in college). The summer enrichment program was also beneficial for science persistence variables, as evidenced by significant direct and indirect effects of the program on science course completion during students' third year of college and students' intentions to pursue a science research career assessed during the third year of college. In general, the program was equally beneficial for all participants, but ancillary analyses indicated added benefits with respect to task value for students with relatively lower prior science achievement during the first year of college and with respect to subsequent science course taking for males. Implications for developing effective interventions to reduce the flow of individuals out of STEM fields and for translating motivational theory into practice are discussed.

Racial (vs. self) affirmation as a protective mechanism against the effects of racial exclusion on negative affect and substance use vulnerability among black young adults.

Affirming one's racial identity may help protect against the harmful effects of racial exclusion on substance use cognitions. This study examined whether racial versus self-affirmation (vs. no affirmation) buffers against the effects of racial exclusion on substance use willingness and substance use word associations in Black young adults. It also examined anger as a potential mediator of these effects. After being included, or racially excluded by White peers, participants were assigned to a writing task: self-affirmation, racial-affirmation, or describing their sleep routine (neutral). Racial exclusion predicted greater perceived discrimination and anger. Excluded participants who engaged in racial-affirmation reported reduced perceived discrimination, anger, and fewer substance use cognitions compared to the neutral writing group. This relation between racial-affirmation and lower substance use willingness was mediated by reduced perceived discrimination and anger. Findings suggest racial-affirmation is protective against racial exclusion and, more generally, that ethnic based approaches to minority substance use prevention may have particular potential.