The Role of Caregiver Burden in Understanding African American Custodial Grandmothers

Evidence suggests social support may buffer brain pathology. However, neither its association with hippocampal volume, a marker of Alzheimer’s disease risk, nor the role of race in this association has been fully investigated. Multiple regression analyses examined relations of total social support to magnetic resonance imaging-assessed gray matter (GM) hippocampal volumes in the total sample ( n = 165; mean age = 68.48 year), and in race-stratified models of African American and White older adults, adjusting for select covariates. Results showed greater social support was associated with greater GM hippocampal volumes among African American older adults only ( p < .01). Our findings suggest greater total social support may play a role in supporting the hippocampus, particularly among African American older adults, who had lower hippocampal volumes than their White counterparts. Further research is needed to test these questions longitudinally and examine which aspects of social support may promote hippocampal integrity, specifically.

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Intimate Partner Violence and the Role of Child Maltreatment and Neighborhood Violence: A Retrospective Study of African American and US Caribbean Black Women

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052245 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2245

Author(s):

Krim K. Lacey ◽

Hira R. Shahid ◽

Rohan D. Jeremiah

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

African American ◽

Black Women ◽

Child Maltreatment ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Violence Exposure ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Moderating Effects

Background: Research suggests that intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with childhood maltreatment and violence exposure within the neighborhood context. This study examined the role of child maltreatment and violence exposure on intimate partner violence, with the moderating effects of mental disorders (IPV) among US Black women. Methods: Data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), the largest and most complete sample on the mental health of US Blacks, and the first representative sample of Caribbean Blacks residing in the United States was used to address the study objectives. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test of independence, t-test, and logistic regression procedures were used to analyze the data. Results: Bivariate results indicate an association between child abuse and intimate partner victimization among US Black women. Witnessing violence as a child as well as neighborhood violence exposure was also related to IPV but shown to differ between African American and Caribbean Black women. Multivariate findings confirmed the influence of mental disorders and social conditions on US Black women’s risk for IPV. Moderating effects of child maltreatment and mental disorders in association with adult IPV were not found. Conclusions: The study addressed the short and long-term impact of child maltreatment and the contribution to the cycle of intimate violence among US Black women including African American and Caribbean Blacks. The study suggests the need for prevention and intervention efforts to improve structural conditions for at-risk populations and communities predisposed to violence and other negative outcomes. Possibilities for future research are also discussed.

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Does School Racial Composition Explain Why High Income Black Youth Perceive More Discrimination? A Gender Analysis

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci8080140 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (8) ◽

pp. 140 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Shervin Assari

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

African American ◽

African American Males ◽

Black Youth ◽

Perceived Discrimination ◽

Poor Mental Health ◽

Racial Composition ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender

Recent research has documented poor mental health among high socioeconomic status (SES) Blacks, particularly African American males. The literature has also shown a positive link between SES and perceived discrimination, suggesting that perceived discrimination may explain why high SES Black males report poor mental health. To better understand the role of contextual factors in explaining this pattern, we aimed to test whether school racial composition explains why high income Black youth perceive more discrimination. We explored these associations by ethnicity and gender. Using data from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent supplement (NSAL-A), the current study included 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth, with a mean age of 15. Ethnicity, age, gender, income-to-needs ratio (SES), skin color, school racial composition, and perceived (daily) discrimination were measured. Using Stata 15.0 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA), we fitted seven structural equation models (SEMs) for data analysis in the pooled sample based on the intersection of ethnicity and gender. Considerable gender by ethnicity variations were found in the associations between SES, school racial composition, and perceived discrimination. For African American males but not African American females or Caribbean Black males or females, school racial composition fully mediated the effect of SES on perceived discrimination. The role of inter-racial contact as a mechanism for high discrimination and poor mental health of Black American adolescents may depend on their intersection of ethnicity and gender. School racial composition may be a mechanism for increased perceived discrimination among high SES African American males.

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African American adolescent suicidal ideation and behavior: The role of racism and prevention

Journal of Community Psychology ◽

10.1002/jcop.22543 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

W. LaVome Robinson ◽

Christopher R. Whipple ◽

Leonard A. Jason ◽

Caleb E. Flack

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

African American Adolescent ◽

And Behavior

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Racial/Ethnic Differences in Alcohol and Drug Misuse Among IPV-Victimized Women: Exploring the Role of Difficulties Regulating Positive Emotions

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520943735 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088626052094373

Author(s):

Nicole H. Weiss ◽

Melissa R. Schick ◽

Ateka A. Contractor ◽

Miranda E. Reyes ◽

Nazaret C. Suazo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Past Research ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Emotional Dysfunction ◽

Culturally Sensitive Interventions ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Racial Ethnic

Alcohol and drug misuse is prevalent and problematic among women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Emotional dysfunction has been identified as a key mechanism in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of alcohol and drug misuse. However, existing research has not considered the role of race/ethnicity in the relations between emotional dysfunction and alcohol and drug misuse. Furthermore, past research in this area has focused almost exclusively on emotional dysfunction stemming from negative (vs. positive) emotions. The goals of the current study were as follows: (a) to explore whether levels of difficulties regulating positive emotions differ among Latina, African American, and White IPV-victimized women, and (b) to examine the moderating role of race/ethnicity in the relations between difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse. Participants were 197 IPV-victimized women recruited through the criminal justice system ( Mage = 36.14; 51.8% African American, 31.5% White, and 16.8% Latina). Difficulties regulating positive emotions did not differ as a function of race/ethnicity. However, relations among difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse were significant for Latina and White but not African American IPV-victimized women. Moreover, race/ethnicity moderated an association between difficulties regulating positive emotions and drug misuse; this relation was significant and positive for White (compared with African American) IPV-victimized women. While preliminary, these results may inform culturally sensitive interventions for alcohol and drug misuse that are tailored to the unique needs of Latina, African American, and White IPV-victimized women.

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