Racial Slurs by Police and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: Intrusive Policing and Perceived Injustice.

Using the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 785), this article considers the ramifications of police use of racial slurs, a type of intrusive behavior, toward minority youth for posttraumatic stress (PTS). We also examine whether other intrusive police behaviors exacerbate this relationship and test whether perceptions of injustice mediate it. Results indicated that hearing a police officer use a racial slur was positively associated with PTS after controlling for intrusive police behaviors and other covariates. Intrusive policing tended to co-occur with the use of racial slurs and was positively associated with PTS. The association between hearing a racial slur and PTS did not vary by the number of intrusive behaviors exhibited by police. The association between hearing a slur and PTS was partially mediated by perceived procedural injustice. Overall, the use of racial slurs by police may do harm to minority adolescents by putting them at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder. Our results are consistent with prior research that racial slurs may contribute to PTS by eroding the bounds of what is considered just and fair. Interestingly, the association between racial slurs and PTS was independent of other intrusive policing behaviors. Mental health screeners should ask not only about being stopped by police but the characteristics of that encounter as well - including those imbued with racial animus.

Income Inequality and Population Health: Examining the Role of Social Policy.

Studies of the relationship between income inequality and life expectancy often speculate about the role of policy, but direct empirical research is limited. Drawing on the neo-materialist perspective, we examine whether the longitudinal association between income inequality and life expectancy is mediated and moderated by policy liberalism in U.S. states (2000-2014). More liberal policy contexts are characterized by greater efforts to regulate the economy, redistribute income, and protect vulnerable groups and lesser efforts to penalize deviant social behavior. We find that state-level income inequality is inversely associated with policy liberalism and life expectancy. The association between income inequality and life expectancy was not mediated by policy liberalism but was moderated by it. The association is attenuated in states with more liberal policy contexts, supporting the neo-materialist perspective. This finding illustrates how states like New York and California (with liberal policy contexts) can exhibit high income inequality and high life expectancy.

Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood.

SignificanceConsiderable effort is expended to protect today's children from lead exposure, but there is little evidence on the harms past lead exposures continue to hold for yesterday's children, who are victims of what we term legacy lead exposures. We estimate that over 170 million Americans alive today were exposed to high-lead levels in early childhood, several million of whom were exposed to five-plus times the current reference level. Our estimates allow future work to plan for the health needs of these Americans and to inform estimation of the true contributions of lead exposure to population health. We estimate population-level effects on IQ loss and find that lead is responsible for the loss of 824,097,690 IQ points as of 2015.

Postpartum Depressive Symptoms during the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Examination of Population Birth Data from Central New Jersey.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the mental health of women in the perinatal period prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We use provisional vital statistics data for births occurring in the central region of New Jersey. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is employed to assess depressive symptoms. Our focal analysis uses linear regression models to test whether giving birth during the pandemic is associated with elevated depressive symptoms. All analyses are performed using time-matched (September 2019-April 2020; n = 18,531) and month-matched (January 2019-April 2019 and January 2020- April 2020; n = 18,346) samples. RESULTS: Women who gave birth in March and not in April reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than those who gave birth prior to the pandemic in our time-matched (b = 0.09) and month-matched (b = 0.09) samples. The magnitude of this association is approximately one-third the magnitude of the association between preterm birth and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that researchers and practitioners should pay special attention to signs of postpartum depression and women's adaptive coping responses in the early stages of pandemics.

Police contact and health among urban adolescents: The role of perceived injustice.

This research evaluates whether personal and vicarious police contact are related to self and caregiver-reports of teen health and to what extent these associations vary by perceptions of procedural injustice. We analyzed longitudinal health data collected from adolescents in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3435), alongside teen self-reports of whether they were stopped by the police or experienced vicarious police contact, and if so, their perceptions of procedural injustice in these encounters. We estimated regression models with lagged dependent variables and a propensity score weighting approach. Our analysis yielded four important results. First, participants who reported personal or vicarious police stops had worse self-reported health in adolescence than their counterparts with no contact. Second, both types of police contact were unrelated to caregiver reports of adolescent health and inconsistently related to somatic symptoms. Third, procedural injustice exacerbated the relationship between both personal and vicarious contact and diminished self-reported health. Finally, the associations between police contact and self-reported health were stronger among black and Hispanic adolescents than white ones. Our results highlight personal and vicarious police contact, particularly instances viewed as procedurally unjust, as commonly experienced adverse health events among urban adolescents.

Age, Perceptions of Mattering, and Allostatic Load.

Objectives: Engagement in close personal ties has been shown to reduce risk for morbidity and mortality. In this study, we assess the extent to which one dimension of social relationships, mattering to others, conditions the positive relationship between age and allostatic load (AL). We do so to test the assumption that age-related declines in health are less prominent among those with high levels of mattering. Method: Poisson regression models were estimated using data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (NSAHS). The NSAHS is a community-based study of 1,026 African American and White study participants, aged 22 to 69 years, residing in Davidson County, Tennessee. Results: Analyses revealed that mattering conditioned or modified the relationship between age and AL. Specifically, we found that AL increases with age and this increase was significantly greater among those with moderate or low perceptions of mattering to others. Discussion: This study confirms that perceptions of mattering to one's significant others are inversely related to physical health problems. This is so because mattering captures the positive and protective aspects of these relationships.

Perceived Unfair Treatment by Police, Race, and Telomere Length: A Nashville Community-based Sample of Black and White Men.

Police maltreatment, whether experienced personally or indirectly through one's family or friends, represents a structurally rooted public health problem that disproportionately affects minorities. Researchers, however, know little about the physiological mechanisms connecting unfair treatment by police (UTBP) to poor health. Shortened telomeres due to exposure to this stressor represent one plausible mechanism. Using data from a community sample of black (n = 262) and white (n = 252) men residing in Nashville-Davidson County, we test four hypotheses: (1) Black men will be more likely to report UTBP than white men, (2) those reporting UTBP will have shorter telomeres than those not reporting UTBP, (3) this association will be more pronounced among black men, and (4) these hypotheses will extend to those who report vicarious UTBP. Results reveal support for all hypotheses. The implications for our findings are discussed as they pertain to debates on policing practices and health disparities research.

Weighed down by discriminatory policing: Perceived unfair treatment and black-white disparities in waist circumference.

Police maltreatment, whether experienced personally or indirectly through one's family or friends, represents a potentially harmful stressor, particularly for minority populations. We address this issue by investigating: (1) how waist circumference (WC) varies by personal and vicarious exposure to unfair treatment by police (UTBP); and (2) to what extent exposure to UTBP explains the black-white disparity in WC. We employed data collected from a community-based sample of black (n = 601) and white (n = 608) adults living in Nashville-Davidson county Tennessee to address these questions. Results from our final linear regression model showed that those who reported vicarious UTBP had WCs that were approximately 2 in. greater than those who did not (b = 2.03; p = 0.003). While personal UTBP was not linked to higher WC, a post-hoc analysis suggested that our ability to detect an association was complicated by selection. Binary mediation analysis revealed that differential exposure to vicarious UTBP accounted for approximately 12% of the black-white WC disparity among women. We found no black-white differences in WC among men. The association between vicarious UTBP and WC did not vary by age, race, or gender. Overall, our findings point toward the role of discriminatory policing as a potential upstream contributor to racial disparities in health.

Grandparents' Education and Infant Health: Pathways across Generations.

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing survey linked to respondents' medical records (N=2,870), this study examines the association between grandparents' education and birth outcomes and explores potential pathways underlying this relationship. Results show that having a grandfather with less than a high school education was associated with a 93 gram reduction in birthweight, a 59% increase in the odds of low birthweight, and a 136% increase in the odds of a neonatal health condition, compared to having a grandfather with a high school education or more. These associations were partially accounted for by mother's educational attainment and marital status, as well as by prenatal history of depression, hypertension, and prenatal health behaviors, depending on the specific outcome. The findings from this study call for heightened attention to the multigenerational influences of educational attainment for infant health.

Does a college education reduce depressive symptoms in American young adults?

Higher levels of educational attainment are consistently associated with better mental health. Whether this association represents an effect of education on mental health, however, is less clear as omitted variable bias remains a pressing concern with education potentially serving as a proxy for unobserved factors including family background and genetics. To combat this threat and come closer to a causal estimate of the effect of education on depressive symptoms, this study uses data on 231 monozygotic twin pairs from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and employs a twin-pair difference-in-difference design to account for both unobserved shared factors between twin pairs (e.g. home, school, and neighborhood environment throughout childhood) and a number of observed non-shared but theoretically relevant factors (e.g. cognitive ability, personality characteristics, adolescent health). We find an inverse association between possessing a college degree and depressive symptoms in both conventional and difference-in-difference models. Results of this study also highlight the potentially overlooked role of personality characteristics in the education and mental health literature.

Marital characteristics and the sexual relationships of U.S. older adults: an analysis of national social life, health, and aging project data.

We tested several hypotheses regarding the relationship between marital characteristics and sexual outcomes among 1,656 married adults ages 57-85 years from the 2005-2006 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Results showed that individuals in their first marriage had more frequent sex than remarried individuals; marital duration had a curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship with frequency of sex; and a linear relationship between marital duration and frequency of sex varied by gender such that men had more frequent sex than women in younger marriages. We speculate that relationship permanency may drive the greater sexual activity in first marriages and sicker men in younger marriages may drive frequency of sex for women in younger marriages.

Electrocoagulation treatment of metal finishing wastewater.

Electrocoagulation has been found to be a consistent and reliable industrial wastewater treatment process capable of removing heavy metals to levels well below pretreatment discharge standards. Results from the testing of a 113 L/min pilot scale electrocoagulation unit indicated that electrocoagulation was capable of decreasing the cadmium, chromium, and nickel concentrations from 0.14, 18.1, and 0.06 parts per million (ppm) to 0.029, 0.039, and 0.020 ppm respectively, at a 1-min hydraulic retention time. In the presence of a strong chelating substance, electrocoagulation performance was found to be effective in reducing both chromium and nickel concentrations to levels well below discharge limits. At a pH of 8.0, chromium and nickel influent concentrations of 0.328 and 0.062 ppm, respectively, were reduced to 0.005 and 0.04 ppm. The electrocoagulation removal efficiency for chromium remained high at over 98% and appeared to be unaffected by the presence of chelating substances. Utilizing aluminum as the sacrificial anode improved the removal efficiency of targeted heavy metals when the industrial wastewater was treated under acidic conditions. At a pH of 5.6, the influent concentrations of the regulated heavy metals cadmium, chromium, and nickel were reduced from 0.55, 49.7, and 13.7 ppm, respectively, to 0.013, 2.7, and 0.8 ppm at a 1-min hydraulic retention time. The results of these tests suggest that the formation of ferric hydroxide and aluminum hydroxide through the electrocoagulation process may be an effective approach for treating metal finishing wastewaters.

Poverty and Awakening Cortisol in Adolescence: The Importance of Timing in Early Life.

The deleterious effects of poverty on mental and physical health are routinely argued to operate, at least in part, via dysregulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, although empirical examinations connecting poverty with HPA axis functioning are rare. Research on the effects of timing of poverty is a particularly neglected aspect of this relationship. This study uses 15 years of prospective data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to assess how exposure to poverty during infancy, childhood, and adolescence is related to awakening cortisol (n = 826), a marker of HPA axis functioning. Among female participants, poverty exposure in infancy and adolescence, but not childhood, was negatively associated with awakening cortisol. Poverty exposure was unrelated to cortisol among male participants. The importance of timing and gender differences are discussed along with directions for future research.

Protecting groundwater resources at biosolids recycling sites.

In developing the national biosolids recycling rule (Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulation Part 503 or Part 503), the USEPA conducted deterministic risk assessments whose results indicated that the probability of groundwater impairment associated with biosolids recycling was insignificant. Unfortunately, the computational capabilities available for performing risk assessments of pollutant fate and transport at that time were limited. Using recent advances in USEPA risk assessment methodology, the present study evaluates whether the current national biosolids pollutant limits remain protective of groundwater quality. To take advantage of new risk assessment approaches, a computer-based groundwater risk characterization screening tool (RCST) was developed using USEPA's Multimedia, Multi-pathway, Multi-receptor Exposure and Risk Assessment program. The RCST, which generates a noncarcinogenic human health risk estimate (i.e., hazard quotient [HQ] value), has the ability to conduct screening-level risk characterizations. The regulated heavy metals modeled in this study were As, Cd, Ni, Se, and Zn. Results from RCST application to biosolids recycling sites located in Yakima County, Washington, indicated that biosolids could be recycled at rates as high as 90 Mg ha, with no negative human health effects associated with groundwater consumption. Only under unrealistically high biosolids land application rates were public health risks characterized as significant (HQ ≥ 1.0). For example, by increasing the biosolids application rate and pollutant concentrations to 900 Mg ha and 10 times the regulatory limit, respectively, the HQ values varied from 1.4 (Zn) to 324.0 (Se). Since promulgation of Part 503, no verifiable cases of groundwater contamination by regulated biosolids pollutants have been reported.

Does a cancer diagnosis influence religiosity? Integrating a life course perspective.

Based on a life course framework we propose that a cancer diagnosis is associated with increased religiosity and that this relationship is contingent upon three social clocks: cohort (1920-1945, 1946-1964, 1964+), age-at-diagnosis, and years-since-diagnosis. Using prospective data from the National Survey of Midlife Development (N=3443), taken in 1994-1995 and 2004-2006, we test these arguments. Results showed that a cancer diagnosis was associated with increased religiosity. Moreover, we found: (a) no evidence that the influence of cancer varied by cohort; (b) strong evidence that people diagnosed with cancer at earlier ages experienced the largest increases in religiosity; and (c) no evidence that changes in religiosity are influenced by years-since-diagnosis. Our study emphasizes how personal reactions to cancer partly reflect macro-level processes, represented by age-at-diagnosis, and shows that the religion-health connection can operate such that health influences religiosity. The study also highlights the sociological and psychological interplay that shapes people's religiosity.

I've Got You Under My Skin: Marital Biography and Biological Risk.

Social relationships shape adult health in profound ways. This study informs our understanding of this association by investigating how the transitions, timing, and exposures to marriage are associated with types of biological risk presumed to serve as pathways to disease and disability. Drawing on the 2005 - 2006 National Social Health and Aging Project (N = 1,062), the authors evaluated how marital biography was associated with cardiovascular, metabolic, and chronic inflammation risk. The results showed that the effects of marital biography were highly sensitive to gender, the dimension of marital biography, and type of biological risk. For example, marital exposure was protective of cardiovascular risk for women, but not men, whereas an earlier age at first marriage had a pernicious effect on chronic inflammation among men, but not women. Health behaviors did not explain these associations. The implications of these findings are discussed as they pertain to under-the-skin risk processes and chronic morbidity.

Groundwater quality protection at biosolids land application sites.

Using the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Multimedia, Multi-pathway, Multi-receptor Exposure and Risk Assessment (3MRA) technology, a computer-based biosolids groundwater risk characterization screening tool (RCST) was developed. The RCST, which generates a non-carcinogenic human health risk estimate (i.e., hazard quotient or HQ value), has the ability to conduct screening-level risk-based characterization of potential human risks associated with pollutants released from biosolids land application sites. The HQ is a human health indicator that is equal to the ratio of the pollutant dose (mass of pollutant per unit body weight per time) to the specific pollutant reference dose (R(f)d) which, in turn, is a human health benchmark defined by the EPA as a scientific estimate of the daily exposure level. A HQ value equal to or greater than one (1) suggests that the resulting conditions pose an unacceptable risk to human health. The focus of the current study was to evaluate whether the present regulatory limits established for biosolids pollutants (e.g., heavy metals) were sufficiently protective of human health associated with potential groundwater consumption using a new EPA risk assessment tool. Application of the RCST to two biosolids land application sites located near Columbus, Georgia predicted that, when the depth to groundwater was maintained at a distance of at least 2 m, regulated pollutant concentrations as large as ten (10) times the current regulatory limit (i.e., Title 40 of the US Code of Federal Regulations Part 503 - Ceiling Concentration Limit) could be safely land applied at rates as high as ninety (90) Megagrams per hectare (Mg ha(-1)) with no apparent non-carcinogenic human health effects associated with groundwater consumption. At these pollutant concentrations, the HQ ranged from 1.79 × 10(-9) for cadmium to 3.03 × 10(-3) for selenium. Only under unrealistically high biosolids application rates were the public health risks associated with groundwater impairment characterized as significant (HQ ≥ 1.0). For example, when the biosolids application rate was increased to 450 Megagrams per hectare (Mg ha(-1)) and the pollutant concentrations were increased to ten times the 40 CFR Part 503 Ceiling Concentration Limit, a HQ value of 2.23 was estimated (selenium). Similarly, when the biosolids application rate was increased to 900 Mg ha(-1) and the pollutant concentrations were increased to ten times the regulatory limit, the HQ ranged varied from 1.4 (for zinc) to 324.0 (for selenium).

Forgiveness of others and health: do race and neighborhood matter?

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the relationship between interpersonal forgiveness and health for older Blacks and Whites. We outline a series of arguments concerning the following: (a) how forgiveness can affect health, (b) how forgiveness may be more protective for Blacks, and (c) how the relationship between forgiveness and health may vary by neighborhood deterioration. METHOD: Two waves (2001 and 2004) of the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey provided data from a nationally representative elderly sample of 436 Blacks and 500 Whites. Measures included sociodemographics, forgiveness, and three dimensions of health: self-reported health, alcohol use, and chronic conditions. We employ both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. RESULTS: Results suggest that forgiveness of others was protective of health for Blacks but not Whites. Moreover, among Blacks, we found the following: (a) forgiveness was positively associated with self-reported health over time, (b) forgiveness was negatively associated with alcohol use and number of chronic conditions, and (c) forgiveness interacted with neighborhood deterioration such that the beneficial effects of forgiveness for self-reported health did not extend to those living in run-down neighborhoods. DISCUSSION: Race and neighborhood were shown to be important for understanding the forgiveness-health connection. Forgiveness was associated with better health for Blacks but not Whites, consistent with McCullough's evolutionary framework (McCullough, M. E. (2008). Beyond revenge: The evolution of the forgiveness instinct. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass), forgiveness was beneficial in some settings but had a deleterious impact in more noxious environments. This study suggests that researchers should give more consideration to race and social context in attempting to more fully understand the relationship between forgiveness and health.

Chemical treatment of chelated metal finishing wastes.

This study evaluated two chemical approaches for treatment of commingled cadmium-cyanide (Cd-CN) and zinc-nickel (Zn-Ni) wastewaters. The first approach, which involved application of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), focused on elimination of chelating substances. The second approach evaluated the use of sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate (DMDTC) to specifically target and precipitate regulated heavy metals. Results demonstrated that by maintaining a pH of 10.0 and an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) value of +600 mV, NaOCl treatment was effective in eliminating all chelating substances. Cadmium, chromium, nickel, and zinc solution concentrations were reduced from 0.27, 4.44, 0.06, and 0.10 ppm to 0.16, 0.17, 0.03, and 0.06 ppm, respectively. Similarly, a 1% DMDTC solution reduced these same metal concentrations in commingled wastewater to 0.009, 1.142, 0.036, and 0.320 ppm. Increasing the DMDTC concentration to 2% improved the removal of all regulated heavy metals except zinc, the removal of which at high pH values is limited by its amphotericity.