Individual- and County-Level Factors Associated with Racial Disparities in Cause-Specific Infant Mortality: Florida 1980–2000

Disparities in the treatment of Black and White Americans in police stops are pernicious and widespread. We examine racial disparities in police traffic stops by leveraging data on traffic stops from hundreds of U.S. counties from the Stanford Open Policing Project and corresponding county-level data on implicit and explicit racial attitudes from the Project Implicit research website. We find that Black-White traffic stop disparities are associated with county-level implicit and explicit racial attitudes and that this association is attributable to racial demographics: counties with a higher proportion of White residents had larger racial disparities in police traffic stops. We also examined racial disparities in several post-stop outcomes (e.g., arrest rates) and found that they were not systematically related to racial attitudes, despite evidence of disparities. These findings indicate that racial disparities in counties’ traffic stops are reliably linked to counties’ racial attitudes and demographic compositions.

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A Case Study on A University-Community Partnership to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality: Effective Strategies and Lessons Learned

Social Work in Public Health ◽

10.1080/19371918.2019.1671933 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (8) ◽

pp. 673-685

Author(s):

Quinton D. Cotton ◽

Pamela Smith ◽

Deborah B. Ehrenthal ◽

Gina Green-Harris ◽

Amy J.H. Kind

Keyword(s):

Infant Mortality ◽

Racial Disparities ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Community Partnership ◽

Effective Strategies ◽

University Community

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Structural and Social Determinants of Health Factors Associated with County-Level Variation in Non-Adherence to Antihypertensive Medication Treatment

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17186684 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (18) ◽

pp. 6684

Author(s):

Macarius M. Donneyong ◽

Teng-Jen Chang ◽

John W. Jackson ◽

Michael A. Langston ◽

Paul D. Juarez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Social Determinants Of Health ◽

Social Determinants ◽

Antihypertensive Medication ◽

Social Supports ◽

Determinants Of Health ◽

P Value ◽

County Level ◽

Medication Treatment ◽

Factors Associated

Background: Non-adherence to antihypertensive medication treatment (AHM) is a complex health behavior with determinants that extend beyond the individual patient. The structural and social determinants of health (SDH) that predispose populations to ill health and unhealthy behaviors could be potential barriers to long-term adherence to AHM. However, the role of SDH in AHM non-adherence has been understudied. Therefore, we aimed to define and identify the SDH factors associated with non-adherence to AHM and to quantify the variation in county-level non-adherence to AHM explained by these factors. Methods: Two cross-sectional datasets, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke (2014–2016 cycle) and the 2016 County Health Rankings (CHR), were linked to create an analytic dataset. Contextual SDH variables were extracted from the CDC-CHR linked dataset. County-level prevalence of AHM non-adherence, based on Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries’ claims data, was extracted from the CDC Atlas dataset. The CDC measured AHM non-adherence as the proportion of days covered (PDC) with AHM during a 365 day period for Medicare Part D beneficiaries and aggregated these measures at the county level. We applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to identify the constructs of social determinants of AHM non-adherence. AHM non-adherence variation and its social determinants were measured with structural equation models. Results: Among 3000 counties in the U.S., the weighted mean prevalence of AHM non-adherence (PDC < 80%) in 2015 was 25.0%, with a standard deviation (SD) of 18.8%. AHM non-adherence was directly associated with poverty/food insecurity (β = 0.31, P-value < 0.001) and weak social supports (β = 0.27, P-value < 0.001), but inversely with healthy built environment (β = −0.10, P-value = 0.02). These three constructs explained one-third (R2 = 30.0%) of the variation in county-level AHM non-adherence. Conclusion: AHM non-adherence varies by geographical location, one-third of which is explained by contextual SDH factors including poverty/food insecurity, weak social supports and healthy built environments.

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Race, Ethnicity, and Trial Avoidance: A Multilevel Analysis

Criminal Justice Policy Review ◽

10.1177/0887403418812998 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 422-451

Author(s):

Jacqueline G. Lee ◽

Rebecca L. Richardson

Keyword(s):

Racial Disparities ◽

Multilevel Analysis ◽

Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽

County Level ◽

Racial Threat ◽

Linear Modeling ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Black Defendants ◽

White Defendants ◽

Threat Theory

Minority criminal defendants are more likely than White defendants to exercise their right to trial, which is concerning given that research also consistently finds trial sentences to be harsher than those obtained via pleas. However, guilty pleas are not the only disposition available for avoiding a trial; pretrial diversions and case dismissals also serve as mechanisms for trial avoidance. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we find that Black criminal defendants are more likely than Whites to go to trial rather than receive other case disposition. Relationships for Hispanic defendants are less consistent. Fewer county-level effects emerge than expected, providing little to no support for racial threat theory. Results suggest that Black defendants are less often able or willing to avoid a trial, a finding which highlights and perhaps helps to explain racial disparities in final sentencing outcomes.

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Factors Associated with HPV Vaccination Uptake and HPV-Associated Cancers: A County-Level Analysis in the State of Alabama

Journal of Community Health ◽

10.1007/s10900-019-00690-1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (6) ◽

pp. 1214-1223 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Macy Vickers ◽

Chelsea L. Green ◽

Hee Yun Lee ◽

Jennifer Y. Pierce ◽

Casey L. Daniel

Keyword(s):

Hpv Vaccination ◽

The State ◽

County Level ◽

Vaccination Uptake ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Level Analysis

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The evolution of infant mortality inequality in the United States, 1960–2016

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.aba5908 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (29) ◽

pp. eaba5908

Author(s):

Nick Turner ◽

Kaveh Danesh ◽

Kelsey Moran

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Infant Mortality ◽

The United States ◽

Mortality Rates ◽

County Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Antipoverty Programs ◽

The Relationship ◽

Over Time ◽

Mortality Inequality

What is the relationship between infant mortality and poverty in the United States and how has it changed over time? We address this question by analyzing county-level data between 1960 and 2016. Our estimates suggest that level differences in mortality rates between the poorest and least poor counties decreased meaningfully between 1960 and 2000. Nearly three-quarters of the decrease occurred between 1960 and 1980, coincident with the introduction of antipoverty programs and improvements in medical care for infants. We estimate that declining inequality accounts for 18% of the national reduction in infant mortality between 1960 and 2000. However, we also find that level differences between the poorest and least poor counties remained constant between 2000 and 2016, suggesting an important role for policies that improve the health of infants in poor areas.

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