scholarly journals Workplace Racial Composition Explains High Perceived Discrimination of High Socioeconomic Status African American Men

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari ◽  
Maryam Moghani Lankarani
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Perceived Discrimination ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
African American Adults

Background: Sociological and epidemiological literature have both shown that socioeconomic status (SES) protects populations and individuals against health problems. Recent research, however, has shown that African Americans gain less from their SES and African Americans of high SES, particularly males, may be vulnerable to perceived discrimination, as explained by the Minorities’ Diminished Returns theory. One potential mechanism for this phenomenon is that high SES African Americans have a higher tendency to work in predominantly White workplaces, which increases their perceived discrimination. It is, however, unknown if the links between SES, working in predominantly White work groups and perceived discrimination differ for male and female African Americans. Aim: To test the associations between SES, workplace racial composition and perceived discrimination in a nationally representative sample of male and female African American adults. Methods. This study included a total number of 1775 employed African American adults who were either male (n = 676) or female (n = 1099), all enrolled from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). The study measured gender, age, SES (educational attainment and household income), workplace racial composition and perceived discrimination. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied in the overall sample and also by gender. Results: In the pooled sample that included both genders, high education and household income were associated with working in a predominantly White work group, which was in turn associated with more perceived discrimination. We did not find gender differences in the associations between SES, workplace racial composition and perceived discrimination. Conclusion: Although racial composition of workplace may be a mechanism by which high SES increases discriminatory experiences for African Americans, males and females may not differ in this regard. Policies are needed to reduce discrimination in racially diverse workplaces. This is particularly the case for African Americans who work in predominantly White work environments.

scholarly journals Polypharmacy and Psychological Distress May Be Associated in African American Adults

Pharmacy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari ◽  
Mohsen Bazargan
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
African American ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Health Status ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Health Care Access ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Multiple Chronic Conditions ◽  
African American Adults

Background: Compared to Whites, African Americans are at a higher risk of multiple chronic conditions, which places them at a higher risk of polypharmacy. Few national studies, however, have tested whether polypharmacy is associated with psychological distress—the net of socioeconomic status, health status, and stress—in African Americans. Aims: In a national sample of African Americans in the US, this study investigated the association between polypharmacy and psychological distress. Methods: The National Survey of American Life (NSAL, 2003) included 3570 African American adults who were 18 years or over. This number was composed of 2299 women and 1271 men. Polypharmacy (using ≥ 5 medications) and hyper-polypharmacy (using ≥ 10 medications) were the independent variables. Psychological distress was the dependent variable. Age, gender, socioeconomic status (education attainment, income, employment, and marital status), health care access (insurance status and usual place of care), and health status (multimorbidity and psychiatric disorders) were the covariates. Linear multivariable regression was applied to perform the data analysis. Results: Both polypharmacy and hyper-polypharmacy were associated with psychological distress. This association was significant after controlling for all the covariates. Conclusions: African Americans with polypharmacy, particularly those with hyper-polypharmacy, are experiencing higher levels of psychological distress, which itself is a known risk factor for poor adherence to medications. There is a need for a comprehensive evaluation of medications as well as screening for psychopathology in African Americans with multiple medical conditions.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic Status, Ecologically Assessed Social Activities, and Daily Cortisol Among Older Urban African Americans

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 830-840
Author(s):  
Samuele Zilioli ◽  
Heather Fritz ◽  
Wassim Tarraf ◽  
Susan A. Lawrence ◽  
Malcolm P. Cutchin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Endocrine Function ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
African American Adults

Objectives: Higher socioeconomic status (SES) individuals report more social activities than their lower SES counterparts. Yet, SES and racial health disparities are often confounded. Here, we tested whether the frequency of engagement in social activities contributed to the association between SES and daily cortisol secretion among urban African American older adults. Methods: Ninety-two community-dwelling African Americans aged 55 years and older reported what they were doing at regular intervals across the day on an Android smartphone for seven consecutive days. They also provided four saliva samples at four time points a day during the same period. Results: Higher SES older adults engaged in proportionally more social activities than their lower SES counterparts. A greater relative frequency of weekly social activities was associated with a steeper diurnal cortisol decline. Higher SES was indirectly linked to a steeper cortisol decline via increased relative frequency of weekly social activities. Discussion: Our findings suggest that engagement in weekly social activities represents a behavioral intermediary for SES health disparities in endocrine function among older urban African American adults.

scholarly journals Educational Attainment Better Protects African American Women than African American Men Against Depressive Symptoms and Psychological Distress

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
African American ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
High Education ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Education Attainment ◽  
African American Adults

Background: Recent research has shown smaller health effects of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators such as education attainment for African Americans as compared to whites. However, less is known about diminished returns based on gender within African Americans. Aim: To test whether among African American men are at a relative disadvantage compared to women in terms of having improved mental health as a result of their education attainment. This study thus explored gender differences in the association between education attainment and mental health, using a representative sample of American adults. Methods: The National Survey of American Life (NSAL; 2003) recruited 3570 African American adults (2299 females and 1271 males). The dependent variables were depressive symptoms and psychological distress. The independent variable was education attainment. Race was the focal moderator. Age, employment status, and marital status were covariates. Linear regressions were used for data analysis. Results: In the pooled sample that included both male and female African American adults, high education attainment was associated with lower depressive symptoms and psychological distress, net of covariates. Significant interactions were found between gender and education attainment with effects on depressive symptoms and psychological distress, suggesting stronger protective effects of high education attainment against depressive symptoms and psychological distress for female as compared to male African Americans. Conclusion: A smaller gain in mental health with respect to educational attainment for male African American males as compared to African American females is in line with studies showing high risk of depression in African American men of high-socioeconomic status. High-SES African American men need screening for depression and psychological distress.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals An Examination of Demographic and Psychosocial Factors, Barriers to Healthy Eating, and Diet Quality Among African American Adults

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Richards Adams ◽  
Wilson Figueroa ◽  
Irene Hatsu ◽  
James Odei ◽  
Mercedes Sotos-Prieto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Psychosocial Factors ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Diet Quality ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Healthy Eating Index ◽  
Dietary Guidelines ◽  
African American Adults

A healthy diet is associated with lower risk of chronic disease. African Americans generally have poor diet quality and experience a higher burden of many chronic diseases. We examined the associations of demographic and psychosocial factors and barriers to diet quality among African American adults. This cross-sectional study included 100 African American adults in a southeastern metropolitan area. Psychosocial factors (social support, self-efficacy), and barriers to healthy eating were assessed with validated measures. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010). Nested linear regressions were used to examine the association between the variables of interest and HEI scores. Participants reported having social support (M (mean) = 2.0, SD (standard deviation) = 0.6, range 0–3), high levels of self-efficacy (M = 3.1, SD = 0.7, range 1–4), and low barriers (M = 1.4, SD = 0.6, range 0–4) to engage in healthy eating but total mean HEI scores needed improvement (M = 54.8, SD = 10.9, range 27.1–70.0). Participants consumed significantly higher empty calories and lower whole fruits, dairy, and total protein foods than the national average. Barriers to healthy eating (b = −12.13, p = 0.01) and the interaction between age and barriers (b = 0.25, p = 0.02) were most strongly associated with lower HEI scores. Younger African Americans with the highest barriers to healthy eating had the lowest HEI scores. Culturally appropriate interventions targeting empty calories, barriers to healthy eating, and knowledge of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are needed for African Americans.

Locus of Control, Depression, and Anger among African-Americans

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 482-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Young ◽  
Laurence A. French ◽  
S. N. Wailes
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
African American ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
African American College Students ◽  
Report Measure

Subjects, 98 African-American college students, were given a measure of belief in locus of control, a self-report measure of depression, and three scales from the Buss and Durkee Hostility Inventory. Depression and belief in control by powerful others correlated only for subjects with low scores on Assaultive, Verbal, and Indirect Hostility. The findings, using nonwhite subjects, replicate a previous study in which the racial composition was not indicated.

Probing the Paradoxical Pattern of Cigarette Smoking among African-Americans: Low Teenage Consumption and High Adult Use

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Feigelman ◽  
Julia Lee
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
African American Adults ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Low Prevalence

Based on secondary analysis of the 1990 California Tobacco Survey, of 24,296 adult and 7,767 adolescent respondents, this study investigates the enigmatic results established by past research, of comparatively low prevalence rates of smoking among African-American adolescents and high use patterns for African-American adults. Findings support the crossover hypothesis claiming that more young adult White smokers successfully relinquish cigarette use than same aged African-Americans. When Whites and Blacks were grouped according to gender and age, findings showed African-American males between ages eighteen to twenty-four and females between ages twenty-five and forty-four were less likely to be among the ranks of former smokers than their same aged and gender White counterparts. The findings suggest that targeting these groups for more antismoking information and for opportunities to participate in smoking cessation programs may be helpful to reduce the higher smoking rates now found among African-American adults.

scholarly journals Housing Insecurity and the Emotional and Physical Health of African Americans

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 335-336
Author(s):  
Aarti Bhat ◽  
August Jenkins ◽  
David Almeida
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chronic Health Conditions ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Chronic Health ◽  
African American Adults ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Housing insecurity—or limited and/or unreliable access to quality housing— is a potent on-going stressor that can adversely impact individual well-being. This study extends previous research by investigating the impact of housing insecurity on both the emotional and physical health of aging African American adults using the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Refresher oversample of African Americans collected from 2012-2013 (N = 508; M age = 43.02; 57% women). Participants reported on their negative affect, number of chronic health conditions experienced in the last year, and experiences of housing insecurity since the 2008 recession (e.g., homelessness, threatened with foreclosure or eviction, lost home). Negative affect and chronic conditions, respectively, were regressed on housing insecurity, and the potential moderating effect of age was tested. Results showed that housing insecurity was associated with more negative affect (B = 0.05, SE = 0.03, p = .002) and chronic health conditions (B = 0.26, SE = 0.03, p < .001). Additionally, the association between housing insecurity and negative affect was moderated by age (B = -0.11, SE = 0.00, p = .019), such that the effect of housing insecurity on negative affect was stronger for younger adults than for older adults. These results suggest that experiences of insecure housing leave African American adults vulnerable to compromised emotional and physical health, however, the negative effects of housing insecurity may attenuate with age.

scholarly journals Associations between Perceived Racial Discrimination and Tobacco Cessation among Diverse Treatment Seekers

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-420
Author(s):  
Monica Webb Hooper ◽  
Patricia Calixte-Civil ◽  
Christina Verzijl ◽  
Karen O. Brandon ◽  
Taghrid Asfar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Tobacco Cessation ◽  
Perceived Discrimination ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
American Black ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Objectives: This study investigated a) racial/ethnic differences in past-year discrimination experiences and b) associa­tions between discrimination and smoking abstinence.Design: Prospective, longitudinal analysis of smoking status. Perceived past-year discrimi­nation was assessed at baseline. ANCOVAs and intent-to-treat hierarchical logistic regressions were conducted.Setting: Dual-site (Tampa, FL and Miami, FL) randomized controlled trial testing the effects of a group cessation intervention plus pharmacotherapy.Participants: Treatment-seeking adult smokers (N=347; non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic African American/Black, or Hispanic).Main Outcome Measures: Biochemically verified 7-day point prevalence abstinence (7-day ppa) was assessed immediately post-intervention and at 6-month follow-up.Results: After controlling for covari­ates, African Americans/Blacks reported greater perceived discrimination compared with non-Hispanic Whites (P=.02), and Hispanics (P=.06). Non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics did not differ in perceived racial/ethnic discrimination experiences over the past year. Irrespective of race/ ethnicity, past-year perceived discrimina­tion was inversely associated with 7-day ppa, both post-intervention (AOR=.97, CI: .95-.99) and at 6-months (AOR=.98, CI: .96-.99). Among African Americans/Blacks, past-year perceived discrimination was inversely associated with 7-day ppa, both post-intervention (AOR=.95, CI: .92-.97) and at 6-months (AOR=.97, CI: .94-.99). Perceived discrimination was unrelated to 7-day ppa among Hispanics. Among non-Hispanic Whites, past-year perceived discrimination was inversely associated with post-intervention 7-day ppa (AOR=.95, CI: .91-.99), but not 6-months.Conclusions: Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination was greater among African American/Black smokers compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Perceived discrimina­tion was negatively associated with tobacco cessation in the full sample, and for African Americans at 6-months post-intervention. These data have implications for interven­tion delivery and health disparities.Ethn Dis. 2020;30(3):411-420; doi:10.18865/ed.30.3.411

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