Understanding the Impact of Contemporary Racism on the Mental Health of Middle Class Black Americans

Developmental life history transitions can be shaped by structural inequities: insights from the sociology of race

Life history emerges as developmental processes play out over the lifespan of an organism, and the concept of life history intersects with evolutionary biology, ecology, demographics and sociology. Here, we briefly outline the interdisciplinary concept of life history, surveying some of the diversity in life history transitions across animals, and exploring these transitions as genetically and hormonally-regulated developmental processes. We review some of the data suggesting that social structures are capable of shifting the timing of human life history transitions, with implications for lifetime health outcomes. Social and structural inequity in contemporary society tends to accelerate developmental life history processes, which can create temporal and physiological pressures that intersect with and amplify disadvantage. Focusing specifically on the experiences of Black women in the U.S., we examine the impacts of inequity on the timing of four developmental life history transitions: birth, puberty, first reproduction and menopause. We identify some of the important intersections between developmental biology, sociology and public health, and we argue that these disciplinary intersections can be introduced in many developmental biology classrooms. We propose some pedagogical frameworks designed to help students grow an awareness of how developmental processes can be affected by social inequities, with the ultimate goal of stimulating more cross-disciplinary conversations about life histories and their intersections with social structures.

Associations Among Lifetime Discrimination Typologies and Psychological Health in Black and Hispanic Women After Birth

OBJECTIVE

To identify lifetime discrimination typologies and examine their associations with psychological health outcomes among Black and Hispanic women after birth.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of the Community and Child Health Network study data.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1,350 Black and 607 Hispanic women.

METHODS

We built two latent class models for Black and Hispanic women using eight indicator variables from different life domains of discrimination (childhood, family, work, police, education, housing, health care, and loans). We used bivariate and multiple regression analyses to examine the association among the identified typologies and postpartum depression and perceived stress at 6 months postpartum.

RESULTS

We selected the three-class model with best fit indices and interpretability: no lifetime discrimination (n = 1,029; 76.22%), high childhood-family racial discrimination (n = 224, 16.59%), and moderate lifetime discrimination (n = 97, 7.19%) among Black women and no lifetime discrimination (n = 493, 81.22%), high childhood-family racial discrimination (n = 93, 15.32%), and high education discrimination (n = 21, 3.46%) among Hispanic women. The adjusted postpartum depression and perceived stress scores were significantly greater in Typologies 2 and 3 than Typology 1 in Black women. The adjusted perceived stress scores were significantly greater in Typologies 2 and 3 than Typology 1 in Hispanic women.

CONCLUSION

Lifetime discrimination experiences manifested in complex patterns. Women who experienced moderate to high discrimination across all or specific life domains had worse postpartum depression and perceived stress at 6 months after birth. It is crucial to address lifetime discrimination to improve maternal mental health.

Racial discrimination is associated with food insecurity, stress, and worse physical health among college students

BACKGROUND

Students of color disproportionately experience racial discrimination and food insecurity, which both lead to poor academic and health outcomes. This study explores the extent to which the location of racial discrimination experienced is associated with food insecurity, stress, physical health and grade point average among college students METHODS: A cross sectional study design was implemented to survey 143 students from a racially diverse public university. Logistic regression models assessed if discrimination at various locations was associated with food insecurity and linear models assessed how racial discrimination was associated with physical health, stress and grade point average RESULTS: Student's experiencing food security had an average discrimination score of 2.3 (1.23, 3.37), while those experiencing food insecurity had a statistically significant (P < 0.001) higher average discrimination score 7.3 (5.4, 9.21). Experiencing any racial discrimination was associated with increased odds of experiencing food insecurity when experienced from the police (OR 11.76, 95% CI: 1.41, 97.86), in the housing process (OR 7.9, 95% CI: 1.93, 32.34) and in the hiring process (OR 6.81, 95% CI: 1.98, 23.48) compared to those experiencing no racial discrimination after adjusting for race, gender, age and income.

CONCLUSION

The location in which a student experienced racial discrimination impacted the extent to which the racial discrimination was associated with food security status. Further research is needed to explore potential mechanisms for how racial discrimination may lead to food insecurity.

Mind, body, and spirit: a constructivist grounded theory study of wellness among middle-class Black women

Previous studies show that Black women in the United States experience disproportionately poorer health outcomes compared to women of other racial/ethnic groups. Recently the focus is on improving the health of Black women in the United States. However, there is little empirical evidence on what Black women need to improve their health to be well. The goal of this constructivist grounded theory was to increase the understanding of wellness among middle-class Black women (N = 30) in a large Midwestern city in the United States through an intersectional lens. The findings show that the connection and balance between mind, body, and spirit was the core experience of wellness among middle-class Black women. Mind, body, and spirit was described in three ways-(a) mentally managing, (b) physically caring for my body, and (c) connecting spiritually-with the women also noting the barriers and facilitators they endured to be well. Each of these categories highlight the tension middle-class Black women experience with trying to be well. Implications for future practice and research with middle-class Black women are discussed.