Race/Ethnicity Flashcards
Geronimus et al. (2006). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States.
Gist: U.S. blacks experience early health deterioration (i.e., Geronimus’ weathering hypothesis) that are not explained by racial differences in poverty.
1) Allostatic load - Physiological burden imposed by stress & indicated by 2 categories of biomarkers.
2) First category: primary mediators, comprises substances released in response to stress (e.g., norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol, DHEA-S).
3) Second category: effects that result from actions of primary mediators (e.g., elevated systolic & diastolic BP, cholesterol, HgA1c).
4) Use allostatic load to measure weathering (the latter encompassing multiple systems but not necessarily registering clinically yet).
5) Poor blacks & poor whites have higher allostatic load scores than nonpoor counterparts, but greater poverty rates among blacks doesn’t account for the black-white difference.
6) Black women at particular disadvantage. Stresses associated with living in a race-conscious society lead to early health deterioration in black women (via telomere shortening). Double jeopardy for black women: gender and racial discrimination.
Hauck, Tanabe, & Moon. (2011). Racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality.
Gist: Black infants 2.5 times more likely to die in infancy. Disparities in prematurity, LBW, congenital malformations, SIDS, & unintentional injuries are associated with interaction of multiple factors (e.g., behavioral, social , political, genetic, medical, health care access). An integrated approach is needed that provide interventions along the continuum from childhood through young adulthood and beyond.
Eberstein, Nam, & Heyman. (2008). Causes of death and mortality crossovers by race.
Gist: A black-white mortality crossover does exist at older ages and is found for several causes of death, although it primarily operates through heart disease mortality. Previous research points to either poor data quality (deficient reporting of age for older blacks) or selective processes that vary by age and race.
Masters. (2012). Uncrossing the U.S. black-white mortality crossover: The role of cohort forces in life course mortality risk.
Gist: Once period and cohort effects are factored out, the black-white mortality crossover disappears. Almost all the change in U.S. adult mortality risk for oldest age group was cohort driven.
1) Two hypotheses have explained crossover: (a) combined effects of pop. heterogeneity in susceptibility of mortality (i.e., frailty) within subgroups & selective mortality across life course between subgroups; (b) poor data quality biases estimates of older-age mortality risk.
2) Alternative explanation: Need to consider cohort effects in processes driving mortality crossovers. Cohort effects have been given less attention in the literature compared to age and period effects.
3) Need to understand two trends: (a) changes in racial differences in SES resources & living conditions; (b) compositional changes in causes of death.
4) Black population becoming more heterogeneous across cohorts. Crossover age is increasing.
5) Mortality crossover does exist, but only for specific cohorts born in early 20th century.
Hummer et al. (1999). Race/ethnicity, nativity, and infant mortality in the United States.
Gist: Examine population differences in infant mortality risk by race/ethnicity and nativity. Infants born to black women suffer the highest risks while infants of Japanese women experience the lowest risks. Favorable infant survival rates of many racial/ethnic groups can be largely attributed to high percentage of births to immigrant women, characterized by overall lower infant mortality than native-born women. Models of infant mortality estimated separately by racial/ethnic group show that direction of effects of mortality risk factors the same but magnitude changes depending on subgroup. Therefore, policy would have beneficial impact for all groups.
Frisbie et al. (2010). Race/ethnicity/nativity differentials and changes in cause-specific infant deaths in the context of declining infant mortality in the U.S.: 1989-2001.
Gist: Substantial decreases in infant mortality from three causes (congenital anomalies, SIDS, and respiratory distress syndrome) were related to specific perinatal health innovations that emerged or were expanded. Relative disparities in infant mortality between white and black women followed the initial introduction or expansion of these interventions. For Mexican American mothers, risk of infant death similar to whites. However, Mexican American infant mortality showed erosion over time of the favorable survival chances.
Hummer & Chinn. (2011). Race/ethnicity and U.S. adult mortality.
Gist: Majority of black-white adult mortality gap can be accounted for by SES resources that reflect historical & continuing racial socioeconomic stratification. Controlling for SES resources, Mexican Americans & Mexican immigrants had lower mortality risk than whites. Without policies addressing equality in socioeconomic & social resources, black-white disparities in mortality will continue to be wide & Mexican-origin population will have higher mortality that could be realized if had equality.
Hamilton & Hummer. (2011). Immigration and the health of U.S. black adults: Does country of origin matter?
Gist: Explored health differences by country-of-origin for black immigrants to the U.S. because previous research suggested that there was regional variation in pre-migration exposure to racism & discrimination that influenced health among black immigrants. Overall, once social & demographic characteristics, cohort of arrival, and duration in U.S. are controlled, there are only modest differences between African immigrants and black immigrants from other major countries/regions. African immigrants maintain their health advantage over U.S.-born blacks after >20 years, but Caribbean immigrants experience downward health assimilation.
Geronimus et al. (2001). Inequality in life expectancy, functional status, and active life expectancy across selected black and white populations in the United States.
Gist: Examine population-level estimates of mortality, functional health, and active life expectancy for black and white adults from a diverse set of local areas and nationwide.
1) Mortality: (a) residents of urban poor areas worse than race- & sex-specific national average & worse than residents of rural poor areas matched on race & gender; (b) black residents of poor urban areas (esp. men) worse than residents of other areas; (c) effects similar for whites, but not as dramatic; (d) residents of white rural advantaged areas same as those in advantaged urban areas; (e) life expectancies in worst black areas lower than in worst white areas but advantaged black areas similar to advantaged white areas.
2) Functional limitations: (a) men & women have similar levels of functional limitations; (b) more prevalent for black residents in poor urban areas than blacks in advantaged urban areas or blacks nationwide but differences smaller than for mortality; (c) for whites, poor urban and rural are more likely to suffer from limitations than whites nationally (especially white residents of Appalachian Kentucky area); (d) in high-poverty areas, blacks & whites’ functional limitation prevalence converges but in low-poverty areas, whites less likely to suffer severe limitations than blacks.
3) Active life expectancy: (a) nationally, blacks have shorter life & active life expectancies than whites; (b) disadvantage greatest for black females nationally; (c) for blacks, residents of poor urban areas have fewest years of active life expectancy & blacks in poor rural areas have slightly higher (and similar to national black average); (d) pattern for active life expectancy for whites similar to blacks (urban poor and Appalachia at low end followed by other white rural poor areas, then by white rural advantaged, then by white urban advantaged).
4) Overall, different social patterns for functional health status than for mortality. For better-off black populations, they have longer life expectancies but only somewhat better functional health status than poor black pops. Basically, increases in life expectancy are spent with limitations or chronic conditions. For whites, increases in life expectancy are associated with a decrease in the number of years spent in poor health.
5) Gains in life expectancy associated with rural residence (compared to urban) are primarily in inactive years.
6) Mechanisms need to be further explored: social networks, immigration patterns, specific causes of death or specific ailments, etc.
Palloni & Arias. (2004). Paradox lost: Explaining the Hispanic adult mortality advantage.
Gist: Tested three hypotheses to explain the adult “Hispanic mortality paradox”: (1) data artifact, (2) migration (healthy migrant & salmon bias), and (3) cultural or social buffering effects. Finding is that foreign-born Mexicans have an advantage that can be attributed to salmon bias. Other Hispanics (except Cubans & Puerto Ricans) have an advantage that is unaccounted for in this research.
McFarland & Smith. (2011). Segregation, race, and infant well-being.
Gist: Few studies have examined effects of residential segregation on infant well-being. Segregation had both negative & positive effects. Dissimilarity had a positive relationship with infant mortality for whites, isolation had a positive relationship with infant mortality among blacks, and both isolation and concentration had a negative relationship with infant mortality for Hispanics. The composite measure predicted LBW for blacks and Hispanics as well as infant mortality for blacks. Shows importance of treating segregation as multi-dimensional concept and a potential source of racial disparities in infant well-being.
Hummer et al. (2007). Paradox found (again): Infant mortality among the Mexican-origin population in the United States.
Gist: Used differences in infant mortality rates to explain Hispanic paradox as an argument against Palloni & Arias. Used infant mortality since it is unlikely that Mexican origin women would migrate to Mexico with newborn babies, especially during 1st week after birth. First-hour, first-day, and first-week mortality rates among infants born in U.S. to Mexican immigrant women are lower than by non-Hispanic white U.S.-born women. Additionally, infants born to U.S.-born Mexican women have mortality rates equal to non-Hispanic white women during first weeks of life & fare better than infants of U.S. black women. Consistent with Markides & Coreil’s (1986) epidemiologic paradox.
Borrell & Lancet. (2012). Race/ethnicity and all-cause mortality in US adult: revisiting the Hispanic paradox.
Gist: Examined association between race/ethnicity and all-cause mortality risk by nativity status. Observed a Hispanic mortality advantage over non-Hispanic whites for women depending on nativity status. US-born Mexican Americans had lower risk of mortality than whites but island- or foreign-born Cubans and other Hispanics age 45-64 had much higher risk than non-Hispanic whites. Island- or foreign-born Puerto Rican & US-born Mexican American women 65+ had lower rate of dying than white counterparts. Overall, the Hispanic paradox depends on population composition. The paradox may not be a static process, as seen by different patterns across age groups.
Hamilton et al. (2011). Assimilation and emerging health disparities among new generations of U.S. children.
Gist: Prevalence of 4 common health conditions (i.e., allergies, asthma, developmental problems, learning disabilities) increases across generations (from 1st-gen immigrant children to 2nd-gen U.S.-born children of immigrants to 3rd plus generation children). In 3rd plus generation, black & Hispanic children have higher rates of almost all conditions. Many factors (e.g., health care, SES, parentla health, social support, neighborhood conditions) influence child health and explain disparities although they do not explain the generational pattern. The latter pattern may be attributed to cohort changes, selective ethnic attrition, unhealthy assimilation, or changing responses to survey questions among immigrant groups.
