Social Class, Race/Ethnicity, and COVID-19 Mortality Among Working Age Adults in the United States

Importance: Substantial racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality have been documented. Social class is a likely explanation of mortality disparities across and within racial/ethnic groups. This is the first U.S. study of social class and COVID-19 mortality in working age adults. Objectives: To determine the joint effects of social class, race/ethnicity, and gender on the burden of COVID-19 mortality. A secondary objective was to determine whether differences in opportunities for remote work were correlated with COVID-19 death rates for sociodemographic groups. Design: Annual mortality study which used a special government tabulation of 2020 COVID-19 related deaths stratified by decedent social class (educational attainment) and race/ethnicity. Setting: United States in 2020. Participants: COVID-19 decedents aged 25 to 64 years old (n=69,001). Exposures: Social class (working class, some college, college graduate), race/ethnicity (Hispanic, Black, Asian, Indigenous, multiracial, and non-Hispanic white), and gender (women, men). Detailed census data on occupations held by adults in 2020 in each of the 36 sociodemographic groups studied were used to quantify the possibility of remote work for each group. Main Outcomes and Measures: Age-adjusted COVID-19 death rates for 36 sociodemographic groups defined by social class, race/ethnicity, and gender. Disparities were quantified by relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. College graduates were the (low risk) referent group for all relative risk calculations. Results: A higher proportion of Hispanics, Blacks, and Indigenous people were working class in 2020. COVID-19 mortality was five times higher in the working class vs. college graduates (72.2 vs. 14.6 deaths per 100,000, RR=4.94, 95% CI 4.82-5.05). The joint detriments of lower socioeconomic position, Hispanic ethnicity, and male gender resulted in a COVID-19 death rate which was over 27 times higher (178.0 vs. 6.5 deaths/100,000, RR=27.4, 95%CI 25.9-28.9) for working class Hispanic men vs. college graduate white women. In regression modeling, percent employed in never remote jobs explained 72% of the variance in COVID-19 death rates. Conclusions and Relevance: SARS-CoV-2 infection control efforts should prioritize the working class (i.e. those with no college education), particularly those employed in never remote jobs with inflexible and unsafe working conditions (i.e. blue collar, service, and retail sales workers).

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Impact of patient-provider race/ethnicity and gender concordance on cancer screening: Findings from medical expenditure panel survey.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2017.35.15_suppl.1547 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. 1547-1547

Author(s):

Jyoti Malhotra ◽

David Rotter ◽

Jennifer Tsui ◽

Adana Llanos ◽

Bijal A Balasubramanian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Cancer Screening ◽

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey ◽

Medical Expenditure ◽

Gender Concordance ◽

Screening Adherence ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

Racial Ethnic

1547 Background: Racial/ethnic minority groups experience lower rates of cancer screening compared to non-Hispanic (NH) whites. Previous studies evaluating the role of patient-provider race/ethnicity and gender concordance in cancer screening have been inconclusive. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 18,690 patient-provider pairs using the 2003-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. We assessed association between patient-provider race/ethnicity and gender concordance and, screening adherence for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer using American Cancer Society guidelines. Separate multivariable logistic regression adjusting for demographics, self-reported health and MEPS survey year were conducted to examine relationships of interest. Results: Seventy percent of patients were NH-white, 15% were NH-black and 15% were Hispanic. Patients adherent to cancer screening were more likely to be non-Hispanic, better educated, married, wealthier, and privately insured. Among NH-black and NH-whites, patient-provider racial/ethnic concordance was not associated with screening adherence. Among Hispanics, patient-provider racial/ethnic discordant pairs had higher colorectal cancer screening rates as compared to concordant pairs (OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.28-1.71). This association was significant even on adjusting for gender concordance and survey language (English vs. Spanish). Conversely, patient-provider gender discordance was associated with lower rates of breast (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.74-0.89), cervical (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.72-0.87) and colorectal cancer (OR 0.86; 95% CI 0.80-0.93) screening adherence in all patients. This association was also significant on restricting analysis to racial/ethnic concordant pairs. Conclusions: Patient-provider gender concordance positively impacts adherence to cancer screening and this finding may guide future interventions. Patient-provider racial/ethnic concordance is not associated with screening adherence among whites and blacks but Hispanic patients seen by Hispanic providers have lower colorectal cancer screening rates. This counter-intuitive finding requires further study.

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Race, Gender, and Statistical Representation: Predatory Mortgage Lending and the US Community Reinvestment Movement

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1068/a38224 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 39 (9) ◽

pp. 2139-2166 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Elvin K Wyly ◽

Mona Atia ◽

Elizabeth Lee ◽

Pablo Mendez

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Mortgage Lending ◽

Predatory Lending ◽

Statistical Representation ◽

Public Data ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Collection Practices ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

Racial Ethnic

American mortgage markets, once arenas of discrimination by exclusion, now operate as venues of segmentation and discrimination by inclusion: credit is widely available, but its terms vary enormously. One market segment involves sophisticated predatory practices in which certain groups of borrowers are targeted for high-cost credit that strips out home equity and worsens the risks of delinquency, default, and foreclosure. Unfortunately, it has become more difficult to measure inequalities of predatory lending: race–ethnicity and gender are ‘disappearing’ from the main public data source used to study, organize, and mobilize on issues of lending inequalities. In this paper, we present a mixed-methods case study of statistical representation of homeowners and homebuyers marginalized by race, ethnicity, and gender. A theoretical examination of official data-collection practices is followed by a discussion of alternative meanings of racial–ethnic and gender nondisclosure. Interviews with a sample of homeowners and homebuyers in the Washington, DC, area reveal some respondent ambivalence about the details of data-collection practices, but provide no consistent support for the idea that nonreporting is solely a matter of individual choice. Econometric analyses indicate that nondisclosure is driven primarily by lending-industry practices, with the strongest disparate impacts in African-American suburbs. Predatory lending is producing ambivalent spaces of racial-ethnic and gender invisibility, requiring new strategies in the reinvestment movement.

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Who Gets Ahead and Who Falls Behind During the Transition to High School? Academic Performance at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Gender

Social Problems ◽

10.1093/socpro/spx044 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 65 (2) ◽

pp. 154-173 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

April Sutton ◽

Amy G Langenkamp ◽

Chandra Muller ◽

Kathryn S Schiller

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High School Transition ◽

School Transition ◽

Black Boys ◽

Transition To High School ◽

Gender Stratification ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

Racial Ethnic

Abstract Academic stratification during educational transitions may be maintained, disrupted, or exacerbated. This study marks the first to use national data to investigate how the transition to high school (re)shapes academic status at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender. We seek to identify the role of the high school transition in shaping racial/ethnic and gender stratification by contextualizing students’ academic declines during the high school transition within the longer window of their educational careers. Using Add Health, we find that white and black boys experience the greatest drops in their grade point averages (GPAs). We also find that the maintenance of high academic grades between the eighth and ninth grades varies across racial/ethnic and gender subgroups; higher-achieving middle school black boys experience the greatest academic declines. Importantly, we find that white and black boys also faced academic declines before the high school transition, whereas their female student peers experienced academic declines only during the transition to high school. We advance current knowledge on educational stratification by identifying the transition to high school as a juncture in which boys’ academic disadvantage widens and high-achieving black boys lose their academic status at the high school starting gate. Our study also underscores the importance of adopting an intersectional framework that considers both race/ethnicity and gender. Given the salience of high school grades for students’ long-term success, we discuss the implications of this study for racial/ethnic and gender stratification during and beyond high school.

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Building Teachers’ Trust in Principals: Exploring the Effects of the Match Between Teacher and Principal Race/Ethnicity and Gender and Feelings of Trust

Journal of School Leadership ◽

10.1177/1052684618825087 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 25-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kristina F. Brezicha ◽

Edward J. Fuller

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Educational Leaders ◽

School Life ◽

Preparation Programs ◽

Principal Preparation Programs ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

The Relationship ◽

Racial Ethnic

Trusting relationships play a crucial role in all aspects of school life. This study builds on this understanding by exploring the role gender and race/ethnicity plays in establishing trust between teachers and principals. Utilizing statewide working conditions survey administered in North Carolina, we employ both descriptive and analytic methods to examine the relationship between the racial/ethnic and gender match between teachers and principals and teachers’ trust in their principal. Our analyses indicate that race matters in establishing trust between teachers and principals. We suggest implications for educational leaders and principal preparation programs.

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A Remote Instructor Like Me: Student–Teacher Congruence in Online, High School Courses

AERA Open ◽

10.1177/23328584211018719 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 233285842110187

Author(s):

Jennifer Darling-Aduana

Keyword(s):

Online Course ◽

Educational Benefits ◽

Online High School ◽

Marginalized Groups ◽

Improved Outcomes ◽

Unique Nature ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

Racial Ethnic

Students belonging to marginalized groups experience positive impacts when taught by a teacher of the same race, ethnicity, and gender. The unique nature of standardized, asynchronous online course taking allows for greater separation of any possible educational benefits of student versus teacher-driven mechanisms contributing to these improved outcomes. Using a student-by-course fixed effect strategy on data from a large urban school district, I examined associations between whether students experienced racial/ethnic or gender congruence with their remote instructor and both engagement and learning outcomes. Students who identified as Black demonstrated higher rates of engagement, although no difference in achievement, within lessons taught by a same-race remote instructor. I find that representation is associated with engagement even when instructors follow closely scripted lessons, representation occurs in only small doses, and instruction occurs in an impersonal setting.

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Unequal Opportunity? Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in the Returns to Internal U.S. Migration

Social Currents ◽

10.1177/2329496519869339 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 46-70

Author(s):

Christine Leibbrand

Keyword(s):

White Women ◽

Ethnic Disparities ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Economic Outcomes ◽

Economic Returns ◽

Latino Men ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

Racial Ethnic

Internal U.S. migration plays an important role in increasing individuals’ access to economic and social opportunities. At the same time, race, ethnicity, and gender have frequently shaped the opportunities and obstacles individuals face. It is therefore likely that the returns to internal migration are also shaped by race, ethnicity, and gender, though we have relatively little knowledge of whether this is the case for contemporary internal U.S. migration. To explore this possibility, I use restricted, geocoded National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data from 1979 to 2012. I find that white men gain the most economically from migrating, relative to black and Latino men. For women, migration is associated with stable or narrower racial and ethnic disparities in economic outcomes, with Latina women experiencing the largest economic benefits associated with migration and with black and white women exhibiting comparable economic returns to migration. Together, these findings indicate that migration may maintain or even narrow racial/ethnic disparities in economic outcomes among women, but widen them among men.

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A Macrolevel Study of Police Killings at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Crime & Delinquency ◽

10.1177/0011128720977444 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 001112872097744

Author(s):

Shytierra Gaston ◽

April D. Fernandes ◽

Rashaan A. DeShay

Keyword(s):

Violent Crime ◽

Social Disorganization ◽

White Women ◽

White Men ◽

Racial Conflict ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender ◽

Racial Ethnic ◽

Unique Dataset

We investigate macrolevel sources of police use of fatal force at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender. Focusing on 580 U.S. counties from 2013 to 2018, we build a unique dataset and analyze whether violent crime, social disorganization, and racial conflict indicators predict police killings among six victim subgroups of Black, Hispanic, and White men and women. Regression results show that violent crime—and social disorganization, albeit less consistently—is positively associated with police killings of men, irrespective of race/ethnicity, and Hispanic women while having no significant impact on Black or White women. We find nuanced evidence that racial conflict shapes police use of fatal force across all six racial-ethnic-gender subgroups. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings.

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