Phenotype and Life Chances Among Chicanos

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos H. Arce ◽  
Edward Murguia ◽  
W. Parker Frisbie

Data from a national Chicano survey with nearly 1000 respondents were examined to test the hypothesis that because of internal (intragroup) and external (intergroup) discrimination, both past and present, Mexican Americans with a European physical appearance will have more enhanced life chances as measured by higher socioeconomic status than Mexican Americans with an indigenous Native American physical appearance. Two variables, skin color and physical features, were combined into a composite variable of observed phenotype. When observed phenotype was correlated with indicators of socioeconomic status, the hypothesis was largely confirmed.

The solutions to end health disparities are complex and involve introspection and confrontation with one's own perceived beliefs about our fellow human beings who are of a different socioeconomic status, sex, religion, age, gender, and physical appearance than ourselves. No person, even if of the same skin color and culture, is the same. Hence, the solution to health disparities is the societal decision to hold accountable those who harm others by withholding health information and treatment that can sustain and prolong life. The value of all human lives is priceless. Hence, access to healthcare and quality evidenced-based care is a right for all.


Author(s):  
M. Gail Hickey

Immigrant children and adolescents living in the United States encounter significant stressors during the acculturation process, particularly in schools. South Asian immigrants tend to identify strongly with religious and geographic region background. This study investigates intersections between religion and education in U.S. South Asians' post-migration experiences in the American Midwest. Findings suggest South Asian children in U.S. schools are confronted daily by the duality between their parents' birth culture and mainstream values and traditions of the host culture. Participants and their families experience prejudice, discrimination, and racism as they engage in daily social, work, and school activities. Reported incidents of prejudice range from judgments about English-speaking ability to doubts about the South Asian education system to prepare workers for U.S. jobs. Findings show religious affiliation, foreign accent, skin color, ethnic dress, and non-Euro-American physical features create barriers for South Asians trying to fit into everyday American society.


1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (3-2) ◽  
pp. 1139-1157
Author(s):  
Hardeo Sahai

This paper compares subgroups using cognitive scores from a test battery administered to high school seniors in the base year survey in 1980. The procedures used to select the sample were designed to yield a data base that can be statistically projected to represent the national population of about 3,040,000 high school seniors. Comparisons were performed to examine differences in cognitive scores by age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and census region. Boys scored higher than girls on mathematics and visualization tests, but lower on the picture-number and mosaic comparison tests. Mean scores of the two sexes on the vocabulary and reading tests differed by less than 0.1 SD. Asian/Pacific Islanders had higher means than white students and other minority groups on the mathematics, mosaic comparisons, and visualization test, but their scores did not differ significantly from those of white students on the other three tests. Means for Hispanics were lower than those for white students but higher than those for black students, except on reading. Mean scores of Cubans exceeded those of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans or other Hispanics. A positive correlation 0.40 obtained between test scores and the socioeconomic status or education attained by the examinees’ mothers. Students in New England had the highest means except on visualization for which the highest scores were in the West, followed in order by those in the Middle Atlantic, West North Central, East North Central, Pacific, Mountain, South Atlantic, East South Central, and West South Central regions.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0141260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Hu ◽  
Chad D. Huff ◽  
Yuko Yamamura ◽  
Xifeng Wu ◽  
Sara S. Strom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryon Hines ◽  
Kimberly Rios

The present studies examined the conditions under which low subjective socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with greater racial/ethnic prejudice among White Americans. Based on theories of intergroup threat and inclusive victim consciousness, we predicted that describing racial/ethnic minorities as disadvantaged (versus as competitive or in neutral terms) would increase empathy and reduce prejudice among White Americans who consider themselves low in SES. Study 1 provided correlational evidence that White Americans who perceived themselves as low-SES (but not high-SES) were less prejudiced against racial/ethnic minorities the more they perceived minorities as disadvantaged. In Study 2, portraying the target outgroup (Arab immigrants) as disadvantaged increased outgroup empathy, and in turn reduced prejudice, among participants induced to think of themselves as low-SES. Study 3 conceptually replicated these results using a different outgroup (Mexican Americans) and a behavioral measure of prejudice. Implications for reducing prejudice among White Americans of different socioeconomic backgrounds are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagnik Palmal ◽  
Kaustubh Adhikari ◽  
Javier Mendoza-Revilla ◽  
Macarena Fuentes-Guajardo ◽  
Caio C. Silva de Cerqueira ◽  
...  

AbstractWe report an evaluation of prediction accuracy for eye, hair and skin pigmentation based on genomic and phenotypic data for over 6,500 admixed Latin Americans (the CANDELA dataset). We examined the impact on prediction accuracy of three main factors: (i) The methods of prediction, including classical statistical methods and machine learning approaches, (ii) The inclusion of non-genetic predictors, continental genetic ancestry and pigmentation SNPs in the prediction models, and (iii) Compared two sets of pigmentation SNPs: the commonly-used HIrisPlex-S set (developed in Europeans) and novel SNP sets we defined here based on genome-wide association results in the CANDELA sample. We find that Random Forest or regression are globally the best performing methods. Although continental genetic ancestry has substantial power for prediction of pigmentation in Latin Americans, the inclusion of pigmentation SNPs increases prediction accuracy considerably, particularly for skin color. For hair and eye color, HIrisPlex-S has a similar performance to the CANDELA-specific prediction SNP sets. However, for skin pigmentation the performance of HIrisPlex-S is markedly lower than the SNP set defined here, including predictions in an independent dataset of Native American data. These results reflect the relatively high variation in hair and eye color among Europeans for whom HIrisPlex-S was developed, whereas their variation in skin pigmentation is comparatively lower. Furthermore, we show that the dataset used in the training of prediction models strongly impacts on the portability of these models across Europeans and Native Americans.


Author(s):  
Josephine Metcalf

Luis J. Rodríguez is a Chicano memoirist, novelist, poet, children’s author, and activist. Born in 1954 in Mexico, his family migrated to the United States when he was young. As a youth, he spent many years immersed in the street gangs of Los Angeles while concurrently partaking in community protests and mobilizations that became known as the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It took Rodríguez several years to extract himself from a life of crime and addiction to drugs, though all the while he was writing, painting, and being inspired by revolutionary figures. His first book of poetry was published in 1989, but it was his memoir of gang life, Always Running—La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA, released in 1993 in the aftermath of the LA riots, that garnered him mainstream literary attention. Always Running and its sequel, It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions and Healing, eighteen years later, can be labeled testimonio for detailing a Latina/o “lived” experience and fighting social injustices. In many ways Rodríguez can be deemed a “classic” Chicana/o author: he addresses the experience of migration and writes in both English and Spanish; he explores themes of prejudice and identity for Mexican Americans in the United States; and he considers the role of heteropatriarchal aspects of Mexican culture in defining his relationships (with women and children). His steadfast dedication to Native American/indigenous spirituality is a more recent focus in his life and writings, situating him among a long list of Chicana/os who have embarked on the “Red Road,” that is, life as indigenous-identified subjects. But what most arguably sets Rodríguez apart from fellow Chicana/o writers is his allegiance—throughout all his works in all genres—to proletarian politics and concerns for the working classes. His critiques of deindustrialization and its subsequent effects, particularly poverty, are reflected, for example, in his depictions of the Bethlehem Steel Mill of LA, where Rodríguez worked.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abayomi T. Ogunjimi ◽  
Jamie Carr ◽  
Christine Lawson ◽  
Nkanyezi Ferguson ◽  
Nicole K. Brogden

Abstract Microneedles (MNs) allow transdermal delivery of skin-impermeable drugs by creating transient epidermal micropores, and micropore lifetime directly affects drug diffusion timeframes. Healthy subjects (n = 111) completed the study, self-identifying as Asian (n = 32), Bi-/multi-racial (n = 10), Black (n = 22), White (n = 23), Latino (n = 23), and Native American/Hawaiian (n = 1). L* was measured with tristimulus colorimetry to objectively describe skin lightness/darkness. MNs were applied to the upper arm; impedance and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were measured at baseline and post-MN to confirm micropore formation. Impedance was repeated for 4 days to determine micropore lifetime. Post-MN changes in TEWL and impedance were significant in all groups (p < 0.05), confirming micropore formation regardless of skin type. Micropore lifetime was significantly longer in Blacks (66.5 ± 19.5 h) versus Asians (44.1 ± 14.0 h), Bi-/multi-racial (48.0 ± 16.0 h), and Whites (50.2 ± 2.6 h). Latinos (61.1 ± 16.1 h) had significantly longer micropore closure time versus Asians (44.1 ± 14.0 h). When categorizing data according to L*, micropore lifetime was significantly longer in darker skin. We report for the first time that micropore lifetime differences are present in human subjects of different ethnic/racial backgrounds, with longer micropore lifetime in skin of color. These results also suggest that objectively measured skin color is a better predictor of micropore lifetime than self-identified race/ethnicity.


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