Showing papers in "Journal of Health and Social Behavior in 2011"
TL;DR: It is argued that there are two broad types of support, emotional sustenance and active coping assistance, and two broad categories of supporters, significant others and experientially similar others, who specialize in supplying different types ofSupport to distressed individuals.
Abstract: Over the past 30 years investigators have called repeatedly for research on the mechanisms through which social relationships and social support improve physical and psychological well-being, both directly and as stress buffers. I describe seven possible mechanisms: social influence/social comparison, social control, role-based purpose and meaning (mattering), self-esteem, sense of control, belonging and companionship, and perceived support availability. Stress-buffering processes also involve these mechanisms. I argue that there are two broad types of support, emotional sustenance and active coping assistance, and two broad categories of supporters, significant others and experientially similar others, who specialize in supplying different types of support to distressed individuals. Emotionally sustaining behaviors and instrumental aid from significant others and empathy, active coping assistance, and role modeling from similar others should be most efficacious in alleviating the physical and emotional impacts of stressors.
2,510 citations
TL;DR: The results show that social capital is inversely associated with psychological distress, and part of that effect is indirect through subjective social status, which demonstrates the complex functions of social capital as a distinct social determinant of health.
Abstract: The author proposes a conceptual model to explain the diverse roles of social capital--resources embedded in social networks--in the social production of health. Using a unique national U.S. sample, the author estimated a path analysis model to examine the direct and indirect effects of social capital on psychological distress and its intervening effects on the relationships between other structural antecedents and psychological distress. The results show that social capital is inversely associated with psychological distress, and part of that effect is indirect through subjective social status. Social capital also acts as an intervening mechanism to link seven social factors (age, gender, race-ethnicity, education, occupational prestige, annual family income, and voluntary participation) with psychological distress. This study develops the theory of social capital as network resources and demonstrates the complex functions of social capital as a distinct social determinant of health.
202 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that organizational changes in the structuring of time can promote employee wellness, particularly in terms of prevention behaviors, as well as links between ROWE and well-being.
Abstract: This article investigates a change in the structuring of work time, using a natural experiment to test whether participation in a corporate initiative (Results Only Work Environment; ROWE) predicts corresponding changes in health-related outcomes. Drawing on job strain and stress process models, we theorize greater schedule control and reduced work-family conflict as key mechanisms linking this initiative with health outcomes. Longitudinal survey data from 659 employees at a corporate headquarters shows that ROWE predicts changes in health-related behaviors, including almost an extra hour of sleep on work nights. Increasing employees' schedule control and reducing their work-family conflict are key mechanisms linking the ROWE innovation with changes in employees' health behaviors; they also predict changes in well-being measures, providing indirect links between ROWE and well-being. This study demonstrates that organizational changes in the structuring of time can promote employee wellness, particularly in terms of prevention behaviors.
193 citations
TL;DR: The results show that men with strong masculinity beliefs are half as likely as men with more moderate masculinity beliefs to receive preventive care, and in contrast to the well-established SES gradient in health, men withStrong masculinity beliefs do not benefit from higher education and their probability of obtaining preventive health care decreases as their occupational status, wealth, and/or income increases.
Abstract: The gender paradox in mortality—where men die earlier than women despite having more socioeconomic resources—may be partly explained by men's lower levels of preventive health care. Stereotypical notions of masculinity reduce preventive health care; however, the relationship between masculinity, socioeconomic status (SES), and preventive health care is unknown. Using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, the authors conduct a population-based assessment of masculinity beliefs and preventive health care, including whether these relationships vary by SES. The results show that men with strong masculinity beliefs are half as likely as men with more moderate masculinity beliefs to receive preventive care. Furthermore, in contrast to the well-established SES gradient in health, men with strong masculinity beliefs do not benefit from higher education and their probability of obtaining preventive health care decreases as their occupational status, wealth, and/or income increases. Masculinity may be a partial explanation for the paradox of men's lower life expectancy, despite their higher SES.
153 citations
TL;DR: It is observed that frequent work contact is associated with more feelings of guilt and distress among women only and the importance of focusing on gender and emotions in work-family interface processes, as well as their implications for psychological health, is underscore.
Abstract: Using data from a national survey of working Americans (Work, Stress, and Health Survey; N = 1,042), the authors examine the associations between boundary-spanning work demands and self-reported feelings of guilt and distress. The authors document gender differences in the emotional and mental health consequences of boundary-spanning work demands, as indexed by the frequency of receiving work-related contact outside of normal work hours. Specifically, the authors observe that frequent work contact is associated with more feelings of guilt and distress among women only. Analyses also demonstrate that guilt accounts for the positive association between the frequency of work contact and distress among women. Statistical adjustments for levels of guilt reduce the positive association between frequent work contact and distress among women to nonsignificance. The findings underscore the importance of focusing on gender and emotions in work-family interface processes, as well as their implications for psychologi...
146 citations
TL;DR: Individuals who had trajectories of high and increasing social engagement experienced lower levels of physical and cognitive limitations over time, suggesting the importance of maintaining high levels of social engagement for the physical and Cognitive health of older adults.
Abstract: Although studies have established important links between social relations and health, much of this research does not take into account the dynamic nature of both social relations and health over time. The present study combines person-centered and variable-centered approaches and uses social integration theory within the life course framework to examine patterns of change in social engagement and how those patterns relate to trajectories of physical and cognitive limitations among older adults, using data from the Americans' Changing Lives survey, a nationally representative panel study (N = 1,667). Individuals who had trajectories of high and increasing social engagement experienced lower levels of physical and cognitive limitations over time. The findings suggest the importance of maintaining high levels of social engagement for the physical and cognitive health of older adults.
142 citations
TL;DR: In the present sample, unadjusted models show that women have better SRH than men, but this difference disappears in models adjusting for women’s greater health-optimism, and anchoring vignettes appear a promising tool for improving intergroup comparability of SRH.
Abstract: This article addresses a potentially serious problem with the widely used self-rated health (SRH) survey item: that different groups have systematically different ways of using the item’s response categories. Analyses based on unadjusted SRH may thus yield misleading results. The authors evaluate anchoring vignettes as a possible solution to this problem. Using vignettes specifically designed to calibrate the SRH item and data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS; N = 2,625), the authors show how demographic and health-related factors, including sex and education, predict differences in rating styles. Such differences, when not adjusted for statistically, may be sufficiently large to lead to mistakes in rank orderings of groups. In the present sample, unadjusted models show that women have better SRH than men, but this difference disappears in models adjusting for women’s greater health-optimism. Anchoring vignettes appear a promising tool for improving intergroup comparability of SRH.
140 citations
TL;DR: Findings highlight the need to better contextualize the health risks faced by gay men by accounting for both neighborhood and network structures.
Abstract: Gay neighborhoods serve as vital places for gay men’s socializing, yet few studies have examined their contributions to gay men’s health—either directly or indirectly via residents’ social networks. Drawing from theoretical perspectives on community and networks, we test hypotheses concerning whether gay neighborhoods and social network factors are associated with patterns of recent illicit drug use among a sample of 740 urban gay men from New York City. Higher odds of drug use were observed among individuals who resided in gay neighborhoods, had networks composed predominantly of other gay men, and had increased socialization with gay men. Network factors did not mediate associations between gay neighborhoods and drug use. These findings highlight the need to better contextualize the health risks faced by gay men by accounting for both neighborhood and network structures.
113 citations
TL;DR: Evidence of group differences in reproductive control and access to reproductive health care suggests the continued existence of “stratified reproduction” in the United States.
Abstract: Evidence of group differences in reproductive control and access to reproductive health care suggests the continued existence of “stratified reproduction” in the United States. Women of color are overrepresented among people with infertility but are underrepresented among those who receive medical services. The authors employ path analysis to uncover mechanisms accounting for these differences among black, Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic white women using a probability-based sample of 2,162 U.S. women. Black and Hispanic women are less likely to receive services than other women. The enabling conditions of income, education, and private insurance partially mediate the relationship between race-ethnicity and receipt of services but do not fully account for the association at all levels of service. For black and Hispanic women, social cues, enabling conditions, and predisposing conditions contribute to disparities in receipt of services. Most of the association between race-ethnicity and service receipt is indirect rather than direct.
113 citations
TL;DR: Findings have policy implications supporting “upstream” interventions to enhance cognitive functioning, especially among those most adversely affected by neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage.
Abstract: This study examines the association of cognitive functioning with urban neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and racial/ethnic segregation for a U.S. national sample of persons in late middle age, a time in the life course when cognitive deficits begin to emerge. The key hypothesis is that effects of neighborhood on cognitive functioning are not uniform but are most pronounced among subgroups of the population defined by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. Data are from the third wave of the Health and Retirement Survey for the birth cohort of 1931 to 1941, which was 55 to 65 years of age in 1996 (analytic N = 4,525), and the 1990 U.S. Census. Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage has an especially large negative impact on cognitive functioning among persons who are themselves poor, an instance of compound disadvantage. These findings have policy implications supporting "upstream" interventions to enhance cognitive functioning, especially among those most adversely affected by neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage.
97 citations
TL;DR: The authors find thatnetwork social capital mediates the contextual effect of neighborhood disadvantage on depressive symptoms and that health effects of network social capital persist when perceived neighborhood disorder, a standard indicator of low informal social control, is controlled for.
Abstract: Research on why neighborhood disadvantage matters for health focuses on the capacity of neighborhoods to regulate residents' behavior through informal social control. The authors extend this research by conducting a multilevel analysis of data from a 1995 telephone survey of 497 residents of 32 neighborhoods in a U.S. city. The authors find that network social capital mediates the contextual effect of neighborhood disadvantage on depressive symptoms and that health effects of network social capital persist when perceived neighborhood disorder, a standard indicator of low informal social control, is controlled for. The findings demonstrate the value of a conceptualization and measurement of network social capital that (1) considers ties that transcend neighborhood boundaries, (2) investigates health benefits of network social capital in the forms of closure and embedded support resources and range and embedded instrumental resources, and (3) uses network data on specific network members with strong and weak ties to respondents.
TL;DR: Using a nationally representative sample of first graders, the authors use a social structure and personality-stress contagion perspective to assess how the classroom learning environment affects children’s emotional and behavior problems.
Abstract: Sociological research focuses on how poverty, family, and neighborhood dynamics shape children’s problems, but knowledge about how school is related to children’s mental health is underdeveloped, despite its central presence in children’s lives. Using a social structure and personality-stress contagion perspective, the authors use a nationally representative sample of first graders (N = 10,700) to assess how the classroom learning environment affects children’s emotional and behavior problems. Children in more negative environments—such as classrooms with fewer material resources and whose teachers receive less respect from colleagues—have more learning, externalizing, interpersonal, and internalizing problems. Moreover, children in classrooms with low academic standards, excessive administrative paperwork, rowdy behavior, and low skill level of peers have more problems across one or more outcomes. Some school effects vary across race and ethnicity.
TL;DR: Stressors directly and indirectly influenced early and problem alcohol use by decreasing positive school attitudes while increasing feelings of anger and perceived delinquent friendships and girls were found to be at risk independently of these other factors.
Abstract: This study investigated the links between alcohol use trajectories and problem drinking (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition abuse/dependence) using five waves of data from 727 North American Indigenous adolescents between 10 and 17 years from eight reservations sharing a common language and culture. Growth mixture models linking fundamental causes, social stressors, support, and psychosocial pathways to problem drinking via alcohol use trajectories over the early life course were estimated. Results indicated that 20 percent of the adolescents began drinking at 11 to 12 years of age and that another 20 percent began drinking shortly thereafter. These early drinkers were at greatly elevated risk for problem drinking, as were those who began drinking at age 13. The etiological analysis revealed that stressors (e.g., perceived discrimination) directly and indirectly influenced early and problem alcohol use by decreasing positive school attitudes while increasing feelings of anger and perceived delinquent friendships. Girls were found to be at risk independently of these other factors.
TL;DR: The author presents a theory of trust that posits that mistrust develops in places where resources are scarce and threat is common and among individuals with few resources and who feel powerless to avoid or manage the threat.
Abstract: A threatening and dangerous neighborhood may produce distressing emotions of anxiety, anger, and depression among the individuals who live there because residents find these neighborhoods subjectively alienating. The author introduces the idea that neighborhood disorder indicates collective threat, which is alienating-shaping perceptions of powerlessness and mistrust. The author presents a theory of trust that posits that mistrust develops in places where resources are scarce and threat is common and among individuals with few resources and who feel powerless to avoid or manage the threat. Perceived powerlessness develops with exposure to uncontrollable, negative conditions such as crime, danger, and threat in one's neighborhood. Thus, neighborhood disorder, common in disadvantaged neighborhoods, influences mistrust directly and indirectly by increasing perceptions of powerlessness among residents, which amplify disorder's effect on mistrust. The very thing needed to protect disadvantaged residents from the negative effects of their environment-a sense of personal control-is eroded by that environment in a process that the author calls structural amplification. Powerlessness and mistrust in turn are distressing, increasing levels of anxiety, anger, and depression.
TL;DR: The authors use data from the Health and retirement Study’s Earnings Benefit File, which links Health and Retirement Study to Social Security Administration records, to estimate the impact of childhood health on earnings curves between the ages of 25 and 50 years.
Abstract: The authors use data from the Health and r etirement Study’s Earnings Benefit File, which links Health and r etirement Study to Social Security Administration records, to estimate the impact of childhood health on earnings curves between the ages of 25 and 50 years. They also investigate the extent to which diminished educational attainment, earlier onset of chronic health conditions, and labor force participation mediate this relationship. Those who experience poor childhood health have substantially diminished labor market earnings over the work career. For men, earnings differentials grow larger over the early to middle career and then slow down and begin to converge as they near 50 years of age. For women, earnings differentials emerge later in the career and show no evidence of convergence. Part of the child health earnings differential is accounted for by selection into diminished educational attainment, the earlier onset of chronic disease in adulthood, and, particularly for men, labor force participation.
TL;DR: It is found that maternal depression, particularly recurrent or chronic depression, puts children at risk of having unfavorable health when they are five years old and this finding persists despite adjusting for a host of demographic characteristics of the mothers and children and is consistent across multiple health outcomes.
Abstract: An increasing body of literature documents considerable inequalities in the health of young children in the United States, though maternal depression is one important, yet often overlooked, determinant of children's health In this article, the author uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,048) and finds that maternal depression, particularly recurrent or chronic depression, puts children at risk of having unfavorable health when they are five years old This finding persists despite adjusting for a host of demographic characteristics of the mothers and children (including children's prior health) and is consistent across multiple health outcomes Family instability, maternal health, and socioeconomic status account for the association between maternal depression and children's health Given that poor childhood health may lead to poor health and low socioeconomic status in adulthood, maternal depression may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of inequality
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of diagnosis and symptoms on social networks and stigma experiences are examined using data from individuals experiencing their first contact with the mental health treatment system, and the findings suggest that those with more severe diagnoses are also vulnerable to rejection and discrimination by acquaintances and strangers.
Abstract: Although research supports the stigma and labeling perspective, empirical evidence also indicates that a social safety net remains intact for those with mental illness, recalling the classic "sick role" concept. Here, insights from social networks theory are offered as explanation for these discrepant findings. Using data from individuals experiencing their first contact with the mental health treatment system, the effects of diagnosis and symptoms on social networks and stigma experiences are examined. The findings suggest that relative to those with less severe affective disorders, individuals with severe diagnoses and more visible symptoms of mental illness have larger, more broadly functional networks, as well as more supporters who are aware of and sympathetic toward the illness situation. However, those with more severe diagnoses are also vulnerable to rejection and discrimination by acquaintances and strangers. These findings suggest that being formally labeled with a mental illness may present a paradox, simultaneously initiating beneficial social processes within core networks and detrimental ones among peripheral ties.
TL;DR: The findings reveal that while participants interpret scientific results to affirm lay knowledge of urban industrial toxics, they also absorb new information regarding other pollutant sources, and this study unravels the complex relationship between lay experience and lay understanding of science.
Abstract: This article examines participants' responses to receiving their results in a study of household exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds and other pollutants. The authors study how the "exposure experience"-the embodied, personal experience and understanding of chronic exposure to environmental pollutants-is shaped by community context and the report-back process itself. In addition, the authors investigate an activist, collective form of exposure experience. The authors analyze themes of expectations and learning, trust, and action. The findings reveal that while participants interpret scientific results to affirm lay knowledge of urban industrial toxics, they also absorb new information regarding other pollutant sources. By linking the public understanding of science literature to the illness and exposure experience concepts, this study unravels the complex relationship between lay experience and lay understanding of science. It also shows that to support policy development and/or social change, community-based participatory research efforts must attend to participants' understanding of science.
TL;DR: There are persistently higher levels of depressive symptoms among black women relative to white women throughout later life and physical health and socioeconomic status account for much of the racial gap in depressive symptoms.
Abstract: Despite recent increases in life course research on mental illness, important questions remain about the social patterning of, and explanations for, depression trajectories among women in later lif...
TL;DR: Predictions are made that receiving emotional support is associated with enhanced well-being when the pattern of supportive exchange is perceived by an individual as being reciprocal (support received equals support given), with this association being weaker when the exchange of support is perceived as being under-reciprocating.
Abstract: Seeking to explain divergent empirical findings regarding the direct effect of social support on well-being, the authors posit that the pattern of supportive exchange (i.e., reciprocal, under-, or over-reciprocating) determines the impact of receiving support on well-being. Findings generated on the basis of longitudinal data collected from a sample of older blue-collar workers support the authors’ predictions, indicating that receiving emotional support is associated with enhanced well-being when the pattern of supportive exchange is perceived by an individual as being reciprocal (support received equals support given), with this association being weaker when the exchange of support is perceived as being under-reciprocating (support given exceeds support received). Moreover, receiving support was found to adversely affect well-being when the pattern of exchange was perceived as being over-reciprocating (support received exceeds support given). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are ...
TL;DR: Welfare state regimes play a significant role in attenuating, boosting, or even reversing the health effects of social experiences such as economic hardship on aging, according to multilevel analyses of data from 23 countries in the European Social Survey.
Abstract: Previous research in the United States suggests that depression related to economic hardship decreases with age. We test whether this pattern can be generalized to other developed nations. Based on data from 23 countries in the European Social Survey (2006--2007), multilevel analyses show that the moderating role of age depends on the socio-political context. While the hardship--depression link is not significantly different across the life course in Nordic and Bismarckian regimes, the hardship--depression link increases with age in Southern and Eastern European countries and decreases with age in strength in Anglo-Saxon welfare states. Our findings suggest that welfare state regimes play a significant role in attenuating, boosting, or even reversing the health effects of social experiences such as economic hardship on aging. Health knowledge gained through research that ignores the socio-political context may be limited in terms of generalization.
TL;DR: It is found that adjusting for group differences in racial awareness and discrimination, in addition to socioeconomic status, explains the black-white gap in self-rated health, but logistic regression models also find evidence for differential vulnerability among black and whites adults, based on socioeconomic status.
Abstract: Using the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we explore the relationship between racial awareness, perceived discrimination, and self-rated health among black (n = 5,902) and white (n = 28,451) adults. We find that adjusting for group differences in racial awareness and discrimination, in addition to socioeconomic status, explains the black-white gap in self-rated health. However, logistic regression models also find evidence for differential vulnerability among black and whites adults, based on socioeconomic status. While both groups are equally harmed by emotional and/or physical reactions to race-based treatment, the negative consequences of discriminatory experiences for black adults are exacerbated by their poorer socioeconomic standing. In contrast, the association between racial awareness and self-rated health is more sensitive to socioeconomic standing among whites. Poorer health is more likely to occur among whites when they reflect at least daily on their own racial status—but only...
TL;DR: Factor analysis identifies three types of exercise: team sports, fitness activities, and activities that require the use of specialized facilities, which offer insight into the social stratification of health and can aid the design of public health interventions.
Abstract: Epidemiological research typically focuses on the intensity, frequency, or duration of physical activity, without consideration of the socially meaningful dimensions of exercise. The authors use data from the 1998 National Health Interview Survey (N = 17,455) and information on participation in 15 exercise behaviors to examine educational differences in exercise among non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Mexican Americans. Factor analysis identifies three types of exercise: team sports (e.g., basketball, football), fitness activities (e.g., running, weight lifting), and activities that require the use of specialized facilities (e.g., golf, tennis). Cultural capital and human capital perspectives offer insight into different dimensions of the relationship between education and exercise. Whites disproportionately undertake facility-based exercise, blacks tend toward team and fitness activities, and Mexican Americans gravitate toward team sports. Our findings offer insight into the social stratification of health and can aid the design of public health interventions.
TL;DR: Using data from the Toronto Study of Intact Families, the authors are able to explain differences among children from low economic development backgrounds specifically in terms of increasing family conflict and decreasing school involvement across generations.
Abstract: The authors reexamine the study of generational differences in adjustment among the children of immigrants by arguing that the country of origin defines and shapes the adaptation process across generations. Using a sample of children in Toronto, the authors demonstrate that generational differences in the mental health of children occur only in families from countries of origin at the lowest levels of economic development. Among those at the lowest levels of economic development, a mental health advantage in the first generation evolves to a disadvantage in the 2.5 generation relative to third or later generational children. Children from backgrounds characterized by higher economic development show no initial or eventual differences from the native born. Using data from the Toronto Study of Intact Families, the authors are able to explain differences among children from low economic development backgrounds specifically in terms of increasing family conflict and decreasing school involvement across generations.
TL;DR: Modeling cross-level interactions demonstrates that religious denominations at the national level are influential: the health advantage of Protestants as compared to Catholics is greater as the percentage of Protestants in a country is higher, yet smaller as countries have a higher percentage of Catholics.
Abstract: In the present study, the authors examine the extent to which effects of individual religious involvement on self-assessed health are influenced by the religious context (i.e., religious involvement at the country level). The authors test their expectations using individual level data (N = 127,257) on 28 countries from the European Social Surveys (2002-2008). Results of multilevel analyses show that individual religious attendance is positively related to self-assessed health in Europe. Protestants appear to feel healthier than Catholics. Moreover, modeling cross-level interactions demonstrates that religious denominations at the national level are influential: The health advantage of Protestants as compared to Catholics is greater as the percentage of Protestants in a country is higher, yet smaller as countries have a higher percentage of Catholics. The association between religious attendance and self-assessed health does not depend on the national level of religious attendance.
TL;DR: Chinese infants born to better educated mothers retained a survival advantage over the turbulent decades between 1970 and 2000, and this occurs largely because educated mothers more actively sought prenatal care and professional delivery assistance use.
Abstract: In this study, the authors analyze the dynamic relationship between Chinese women’s education, their utilization of newly available medical pregnancy care, and their infants’ mortality risk. China ...
TL;DR: The results reveal a consistent disadvantage among African American women across indicators of health and the importance of the intersections of race, ethnicity, and nativity in the understanding of gender differences in health.
Abstract: Although gender disparities in health in the United States remain a primary concern among health professionals, less is known about this phenomenon within the black American population. Using the National Survey of American Life, the author examines gender differences in self-rated health, chronic illness, and functional limitations among African Americans (n = 3,330) and Caribbean blacks (n = 1,562) and the extent to which the availability of resources explains these differences. The results reveal a consistent disadvantage among African American women across indicators of health. The gender-health relationship among Caribbean blacks is somewhat weaker, but there is a health disadvantage for immigrant women and U.S.-born Caribbean men when certain resources are taken into account. These findings illustrate the importance of the intersections of race, ethnicity, and nativity in our understanding of gender differences in health.
TL;DR: It is argued that faith healing can be understood as a third therapeutic system that coexists with the well-documented biomedical and traditional systems and lies in their unique ability to combine individual-pragmatic and communal-ritualized aspects of healing to inform interpretations of the AIDS epidemic and its consequences.
Abstract: Faith healing in sub-Saharan Africa has primarily been studied qualitatively among Pentecostal-Charismatic groups, and considered as its own phenomenon with little attention to its relationship to other modes of healing. Using data from Malawi, a religiously diverse African country with high HIV prevalence, we find that faith healing is pervasive across multiple religious traditions. For individuals, attending a faith healing congregation is associated with lower levels of generalized worry about AIDS, and this association is driven by those who switched churches before AIDS became widespread in rural areas. Use of condoms and traditional medicine are, on the other hand, positively associated with worry about AIDS. We argue that faith healing can be understood as a third therapeutic system that coexists with the well-documented biomedical and traditional systems. The success of faith healing approaches lies in their unique ability to combine individual-pragmatic and communal-ritualized aspects of healing to inform interpretations of the AIDS epidemic and its consequences.
TL;DR: This work systematically investigates the roles of birthweight, pre-natal factors, and childhood factors in explaining racial/ethnic differences in childhood overweight and finds that Mexican American children do outgrow the paradox.
Abstract: Mexican American children have a weight distribution that categorizes them as relatively healthy at birth but relatively unhealthy by age 3. This early life course transition in health based on weight raises the question of whether Mexican American children “outgrow” the epidemiologic paradox of favorable birth outcomes despite social disadvantage or whether their birthweight distribution places them on trajectory for overweight in childhood. We address this question using newly available 9-year follow-up data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing birth cohort study linked to pre-natal medical records. We systematically investigate the roles of birthweight, pre-natal factors, and childhood factors in explaining racial/ethnic differences in childhood overweight. Our main finding is that Mexican American children do outgrow the paradox: Their rates of childhood overweight are higher than expected given their birthweight distribution. Observed pre-natal and childhood factors do not explain the elevat...
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that segregation may increase both susceptibility and exposure to seasonal flu for black Americans, and appears to limit black Americans’ access to personal preventive measures against infection, while spatially concentrating those people who are most likely to become contagious.
Abstract: Examining nursing home segregation and race disparities in influenza vaccinations, this study demonstrates that segregation may increase both susceptibility and exposure to seasonal flu for black Americans. Evidence based on the 2004 U.S. National Nursing Home Survey shows that individuals in nursing homes with high percentages of black residents have less personal immunity to flu because they are less likely to have been vaccinated against the disease; they may also be more likely to be exposed to flu because more of their coresidents are also unvaccinated. This implies that segregation may generate dual disease hazards for contagious conditions. Segregation appears to limit black Americans' access to personal preventive measures against infection, while spatially concentrating those people who are most likely to become contagious.