scholarly journals Carceral-community epidemiology, structural racism, and COVID-19 disparities

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. e2026577118
Author(s):  
Eric Reinhart ◽  
Daniel L. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Disease Burden ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Cook County ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
County Jail ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Zip Code

Black and Hispanic communities are disproportionately affected by both incarceration and COVID-19. The epidemiological relationship between carceral facilities and community health during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, remains largely unexamined. Using data from Cook County Jail, we examine temporal patterns in the relationship between jail cycling (i.e., arrest and processing of individuals through jails before release) and community cases of COVID-19 in Chicago ZIP codes. We use multivariate regression analyses and a machine-learning tool, elastic regression, with 1,706 demographic control variables. We find that for each arrested individual cycled through Cook County Jail in March 2020, five additional cases of COVID-19 in their ZIP code of residence are independently attributable to the jail as of August. A total 86% of this additional disease burden is borne by majority-Black and/or -Hispanic ZIPs, accounting for 17% of cumulative COVID-19 cases in these ZIPs, 6% in majority-White ZIPs, and 13% across all ZIPs. Jail cycling in March alone can independently account for 21% of racial COVID-19 disparities in Chicago as of August 2020. Relative to all demographic variables in our analysis, jail cycling is the strongest predictor of COVID-19 rates, considerably exceeding poverty, race, and population density, for example. Arrest and incarceration policies appear to be increasing COVID-19 incidence in communities. Our data suggest that jails function as infectious disease multipliers and epidemiological pumps that are especially affecting marginalized communities. Given disproportionate policing and incarceration of racialized residents nationally, the criminal punishment system may explain a large proportion of racial COVID-19 disparities noted across the United States.

scholarly journals Violence and Community: Collective and Cultural Trauma in Black America

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Yu
Keyword(s):  
Jim Crow ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Collective Trauma ◽  
Predominantly Black ◽  
Black America ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
National Conversation ◽  
Pastoral Response ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between law enforcement and predominantly black communities has been characterized by mistrust, violence, and victimization. Recently, this issue has entered into the national conversation, sparked by the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Samuel Dubose, Tamir Rice, Laquan McDonald, and countless other black individuals. The present paper presents the experience of black communities in the United States as an experience of collective and communal trauma. First, collective trauma is conceptualized and distinguished from individual trauma writ large from a sociological perspective with Ignacio Martin Baró and Jeffrey Alexander. Communal trauma is a phenomenon that is different than individual trauma because of its social and communal implications. Next, the experience of black communities in light of consistent patterns of police violence is named as collective trauma. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow will be used, as well as Atlantic correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates. The final section proposes a pastoral response to the communal trauma of Black communities, divided into two parts. The first is a look inwards towards organized Christianity’s complicity in the terrorism of Black communities and the benefits that are gained from their subjugation, and the second looks outwards, proposing a stance of solidarity, courage, and righteous indignation that actively works towards the liberation of marginalized communities.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Age and Happiness Varies by Income

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimiter Toshkov
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Old Age ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe link between age and happiness has been the subject of numerous studies. It is still a matter of controversy whether the relationship is U-shaped, with happiness declining after youth before bouncing back in old age, or not. While the effect of age has been examined conditional on income and other socio-demographic variables, so far, the interactions between age and income have remained insufficiently explored. Using data from the European Social Survey, this article shows that the nature of the relationship between age and happiness varies strongly with different levels of relative income. People in the lowest decile of the income distribution experience a ‘hockey stick’: a deep decline in self-reported happiness until around age 50–55 and a small bounce back in old age. The classic U-curve is found mostly in the middle-income ranks. For people at the top of the income distribution, average happiness does not vary much with age. These results demonstrate the important role of income in moderating the relationship between age and happiness.

Modernization and Religious Concord

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250
Author(s):  
David Weakliem
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractTocqueville said that Americans combined a general belief in God with a lack of interest in denominational differences. Although this outlook may be particularly prevalent in the United States, it is also visible in other Western societies, although combined with lower levels of religious belief. This paper investigates the possibility of a relationship between a belief that there is truth in many religions and modernization, using data from the Gallup International Millenium Survey. The belief that there is truth in many religions is more prevalent in more affluent nations. Moreover, this belief does not seem to be merely an intermediate stage in a move away from religion. The relationship is about equally strong among people of all religious backgrounds. The tendency for modernization to lead to “religious concord” may help to explain the relationship between modernization and democracy noticed by Lipset.

Time and money volunteering among older adults: the relationship between past and current volunteering and correlates of change and stability

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAMKEE G. CHOI ◽  
RITA JING-ANN CHOU
Keyword(s):  
Social Connectedness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Older Volunteers ◽  
Religious Identification ◽  
Social Network Size ◽  
The Hours ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Demographic Attributes ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTUsing data from the first and second waves of the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States – MIDUS1 1995–1996 and MIDUS2 2004–2006, this paper examines the relationship between the extent of time and money volunteering among people aged 55 or more years at baseline and those of the same age nine years later. Following an analysis of the changes and stability in volunteering status, the paper examines the relationships between change or stability in volunteering and various socio-demographic attributes of the respondents and measures of their human capital, cultural capital and social capital. A majority of older volunteers of time and/or money were repeat volunteers, and the extent of volunteering at the start of the studied period was one of the most significant predictors of the extent of volunteering nine years later. The level of education was a consistent predictor of the extent of both time and money volunteering and of new engagement and stability in volunteering. Social network size, or social connectedness, represented by the number of various meetings attended, was a significant predictor not only of the hours of time volunteering, but also of new engagement and stability in both time and money volunteering. A high degree of religious identification also appeared to be a motivation for money volunteering and to affect the value of donations. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for the recruitment and retention of volunteers.

College Quality and Wages in the United States

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Black ◽  
Kermit Daniel ◽  
Jeffrey Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Cost ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
College Quality ◽  
Using Data ◽  
As Effects ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Identification Strategy

Abstract We estimate the effects of the quality of the college a student attends on their later earnings using data from a cohort of US college students from the late 1970s and early 1980s. We rely on a linear selection on observables identification strategy, which is justified in our context by a very rich set of conditioning variables. We find economically important earnings effects of college quality for men and women, as well as effects on educational attainment, spousal earnings and other demographic variables. These effects remain roughly constant over time and result primarily from effects on wages, rather than from effects on hours or labor force participation. We find that, over the lower part of the range of college quality, increases in college quality (which entail higher expenditures per student) pass a simple social cost-benefit test.

scholarly journals Structural Racial Inequities in Socioeconomic Status, Urban-Rural Classification, and Infant Mortality in US Counties

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-398
Author(s):  
Jessica Owens-Young ◽  
Caryn N. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Infant Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Racial Gaps ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
The Relationship

Objectives: Despite improvements in infant mortality rates (IMR) in the United States, racial gaps in IMR remain and may be driven by both structural racism and place. This study assesses the relationship between structural racism and race-specific IMR and the role of urban-rural classifica­tion on race-specific IMR and Black/White racial gaps in IMR.Methods: We conducted an analysis of variance tests using 2019 County Health Rankings Data to determine differences in structural racism indicators, IMR and other co-variates by urban-rural classification. We used linear regressions to determine the associations between measures of structural racism and county-level health outcomes.Results: Study results suggest that racial inequities in education, work, and home­ownership negatively impact Black IMR, especially in large fringe, medium, and small metro counties, and positively impact White IMR. Structural racism is also associated with Black-White gaps in IMR.Conclusions: Factors related to structural racism may not be homogenous or have the same impacts on overall IMR, race-specific IMR, and racial differences in IMR across places. Understanding these differential impacts can help public health profes­sionals and policymakers improve Black infant health and eliminate racial inequities in IMR. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(3):389-398; doi:10.18865/ed.30.3.389

scholarly journals EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND YOUNG ADULT HEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES: DIFFERENCES BY RACE AND GENDER

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S591-S591
Author(s):  
Grace A Noppert
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcome ◽  
The United States ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Young Adult Health ◽  
Ethnicity And Gender ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract There is compelling evidence to suggest that educational disparities in health differ by both race and gender. This study examines the relationship between respondents’ education and six health outcomes related to cardiometabolic and inflammatory outcomes using data from Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (ages 24-32 years; N = 13,458). We used logistic regression models to examine the relationship between education and the odds of each health outcome. Models were stratified by race and gender. We found that the association between education and each health outcome differed by race/ethnicity and gender. While among whites we observed an association between education and each health outcome, for blacks we observed no such associations. It may be that the benefits of education are particularly salient for those in more structurally advantaged positions, pointing to the continued need to address structural inequalities by both gender and race.

scholarly journals Suicides in Young People in Ontario Following the Release of “13 Reasons Why”

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
pp. 798-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Sinyor ◽  
Marissa Williams ◽  
Ulrich S. Tran ◽  
Ayal Schaffer ◽  
Paul Kurdyak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young People ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Youth Suicide ◽  
Primary Analysis ◽  
Seasonal Model ◽  
Time Series Analyses ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Objective: “13 Reasons Why,” a Netflix series, included a controversial depiction of suicide that has raised fears about possible contagion. Studies of youth suicide in the United States found an increase on the order of 10% following release of the show, but this has not been replicated in other countries. This study aims to begin to address that gap by examining the relationship between the show’s release and youth suicide in Canada’s most populous province. Methods: Suicides in young people (under the age of 30) in the province of Ontario following the show’s release on March 31, 2017, were the outcome of interest. Time-series analyses were performed using data from January 2013 to March 2017 to predict expected deaths from April to December 2017 with a simple seasonal model (stationary R 2 = 0.732, Ljung-Box Q = 15.1, df = 16, P = 0.52, Bayesian information criterion = 3.09) providing the best fit/used for the primary analysis. Results: Modeling predicted 224 suicides; however, 264 were observed corresponding to 40 more deaths or an 18% increase. In the primary analysis, monthly suicides exceeded the 95% confidence limit for 3 of the 9 months (May, July, and October). Conclusion: The statistical strength of the findings here is limited by small numbers; however, the results are in line with what has been observed in the United States and what would be expected if contagion were occurring. Further research in other locations is needed to increase confidence that the associations found here are causal.

Clarifying the Relationship Between Parenthood and Depression

2005 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranae J. Evenson ◽  
Robin W. Simon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Role Involvement ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Status Differences

Unlike other major adult social roles in the United States, parenthood does not appear to confer a mental health advantage for individuals. However, while research has examined parental status differences in emotional well-being, relatively little is known about variations in emotional distress among parents. In this article, we clarify the relationship between parenthood and current symptoms of depression using data from the National Survey of Families and Households. The analyses provide support for our first hypothesis: Parenthood is not associated with enhanced mental health since there is no type of parent who reports less depression than nonparents. We also find support for our second hypothesis: Certain types of parenthood are associated with more depression than others. Additionally, although we find marital status differences in symptoms among parents, there are no gender differences in the association between parenthood and depression. We discuss the implications of our findings for ongoing theoretical debates about the advantages of social role involvement for mental health as well as the meaning of contemporary parenthood in the United States.

Hate Crime Victimization and Weapon Use

2020 ◽  
pp. 009385482098384
Author(s):  
Zachary T. Malcom ◽  
Brendan Lantz
Keyword(s):  
Hate Crime ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hate Crimes ◽  
Crime Victimization ◽  
Bias Crime ◽  
Bias Crimes ◽  
Weapon Use ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Prior research has suggested that hate crimes hurt more, in that they are more physically severe than other crimes. A separate body of research has focused on the role of weapons in exacerbating violence; yet, no research has considered the role of weapon use in bias crime victimization. Following this, this research examines the relationship between weapon use, bias motivation, and victimization in the United States. On one hand, weapons may play an important role in hate crime by exacerbating violence. On the other hand, weapons may be unnecessary for facilitating hate crime violence, given the animus associated with bias motivation. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, we find that bias crimes are both (a) less likely than nonbias crimes to involve weapons and (b) more likely than nonbias crimes to involve serious or lethal victim injury. These patterns are particularly pronounced for antisexual orientation hate crimes.

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