The effect of race and birth cohort on the veteran mortality differential.

Research on veteran versus nonveteran mortality outcomes provides contrary results, with some studies reporting a veteran mortality advantage while others report a veteran mortality disadvantage. Life course scholars suggest these conflicting results may be explained by a crossover in the veteran-nonveteran mortality differential, with veterans having a mortality advantage during early and midlife and a mortality disadvantage during older age. We conducted discrete time hazard analysis of a veteran-nonveteran mortality crossover among black and white men in the United States by birth cohort using data from the 1986-2009(2011) National Health Interview Survey-Linked Mortality Files. Among men who turned age 18 during non-war eras, veterans had an early to midlife mortality advantage and later life mortality disadvantage, with differences more pronounced among black men. However, differences between veteran and nonveteran mortality risk were not significant among the majority of men who turned age 18 during war eras. Findings clarify that the mortality related benefits of military service may only apply to veterans who came of age during non-war eras. Furthermore, results suggest that military service may provide a greater mortality benefit to black veterans than white veterans.

Revisiting "Color Names and Color Notions": a contemporary examination of the language and attitudes of skin color among young black women.

Employing the pioneering work of Charles Parrish as a basis of comparison, this study serves as a follow-up to "Color Names and Color Notions" by deconstructing the contemporary language and attitudes surrounding skin color. Nine focus groups with 58 black women between the ages of 18 and 25 reveal that the color names and color notions offered were consistent with many of the terms and stereotypes that Parrish found, thereby indicating that there has been no change in colorist ideology among African Americans. Participants discussed 40 color names regularly employed to describe light, medium, and dark skin tones. The terms and attitudes associated with light skin tones were generally negative; conversely, the terms and attitudes associated with dark skin tones were derogatory. The language and beliefs connected to medium skin tones indicate that colorism operates as a three-tiered structure rather than the traditionally situated binary paradigm.