Heart Trouble and Racial Group Identity: Exploring Ethnic Heterogeneity Among Black Americans

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States, and compared to other racial and ethnic groups, Blacks between the ages of 45 and 65 have the highest likelihood of dying from heart disease. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about intragroup variation among the US Black population. In this study, utilizing a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, we examine the relationship between heart trouble and racial group identity for two groups of Blacks: African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. We include two measures of racial group identity: closeness to other Blacks and Black group evaluation. Our results reveal three important patterns. First, closeness to other Blacks is suppressed by Black group evaluation. Second, at low levels of closeness to other Blacks, there is little difference between African Americans and Caribbean Blacks in the probability of heart trouble. However, as closeness to other Blacks increases, the probability of heart trouble increases for African Americans, but decreases for Caribbean Blacks. Finally, with respect to positive Black group evaluation, both African Americans and Caribbean Blacks benefit and experience a lower probability of heart trouble.     

A Clearer Picture of Multiracial Substance Use: Rates and Correlates of Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Multiracial Adolescents and Adults

Existing studies indicate that multiracial adolescents face greater substance use rates than monoracial adolescents. However, it is unclear whether the risk identified in adolescence persists into adulthood. The current study uses data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey to analyze the alcohol and tobacco use of multiracial adolescents and adults compared to European American, African American, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and Latino American individuals. Results generally support the hypothesis that multiracial adolescents and adults face higher rates of substance use than African American and Asian/Pacific Islander American individuals, though this pattern of results was reversed in comparison with Native Americans and European Americans, and less consistent compared to Latino Americans. We further establish and discuss the correlates of drinking and smoking behavior for mixed-race individuals—comparing them to other racial groups. We review the limitations of our design and the implications for future research on multiracial substance use.     

Race and Gender Concordance: Strategy to Reduce Healthcare Disparities or Red Herring? Evidence from a Qualitative Study

Healthcare treatment differences persist for African Americans even after controlling for socioeconomic status (van Ryn and Burke 2000). Although blacks represent a sizable percentage of the middle class, most disparities research does not address class heterogeneity. Furthermore, research indicates patient–provider race concordance may mitigate racial disparities in health care (Laveist and Neru-jeter in J Health Soc Behav 43(3):296–306, 2002; IOM in Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. National Academies Press, Washington, 2002). This study explores race and gender preference for black middle-class women in healthcare settings. The study uses in-depth interviews and focus groups to explore the experiences of thirty African American women between 38 and 67 in a large urban area. The majority of respondents expressed a strong preference for a female OB/GYN (of any race) while 9 preferred a female primary care provider (of any race). Although the women did not express an explicit race preference, they had a strong affinity for black female providers. Importantly, respondents complicated the idea of provider-level race preference by noting that other site-level factors like wait times and the site’s racial composition affected their racial preferences. Although increasing racial diversity among providers is generally positive, respondents suggest that alone will not ameliorate racial disparities. The complexities of the healthcare encounter, including time pressure, clinical uncertainty, and the patient’s desire for expertise regardless of race or gender, all impinge on respondents’ race preferences. Lastly, women noted that site-level factors may be conflated with the race of provider such that having a black provider does not necessarily lead to better care or protect women from discrimination or bias.     

Coping with racial battle fatigue: differences and similarities for African American and Mexican American college students

Student of Color often reference racial microaggressions when asked to describe their post-secondary experience. The racial battle fatigue framework assists in understanding the cumulative, negative effect of racial microaggressions on psychological, behavioral, and physiological outcomes. This paper assesses the racial battle fatigue framework for African American and Mexican American college students and the impact of coping on racial stress. Results demonstrate that racial microaggressions negatively impact stress responses for African American and Mexican Americans differently, but coping may help alleviate the impact of racial battle fatigue. Universities can address racial microaggressions and negative health outcomes by educating campus constituents about racial microaggressions, addressing Whiteness, and providing education about adaptive coping strategies.     

Beyond conventional wisdom: community cultural wealth and the college knowledge of African American youth in the United States

African American youth are generally as likely as their peers from other racial and ethnic groups to aspire to earn a college degree; yet, in spite of their aspirations these students remain under-represented in college enrollment and graduation. Part of the disparity between these students’ aspirations and the realization of their goals may lie in their minimal college knowledge and nominal participation in postsecondary preparatory activities that have frequently been caused by the historic, and ongoing, systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans. During interviews, college students reflected on how similarly-aged family members, peers, co-workers, and parishioners assisted with various aspects of college preparation and enrollment. The community cultural wealth framework helps us understand the reason for, and importance of, this ‘lateral mentorship’ in the fulfillment of these students’ college aspirations. Consequently, educators and educational systems are challenged to be more responsive to the college preparatory needs of traditionally under-represented college-going populations.     

An Ecological Approach to Racial Environments and Their Relationship to Mental Health

Although research has demonstrated that aspects of racial environments such as racial experiences and racial diversity can relate to psychological health and well-being, few studies have examined what specifically happens when individuals move from one racial environment to another. The present study asked 179 African Americans transitioning to a predominantly white institution (freshmen or junior transfers) about racial diversity (percentage of African Americans) at their prior institution, racial experiences at their prior institution, and racial experiences at the current institution and examined how these characteristics related to self-reported depression. Overall, we found that more negative previous racial experiences predicted greater depressive symptoms in college. Results also revealed a significant three-way interaction such that more positive current racial experiences predicted less depressive symptoms, but only for those students coming from predominantly negative racial environments—low racial diversity and more negative racial experiences. Our findings highlight the complex role of past and present racial environmental factors in influencing psychological health. Implications for African American college students’ success and well-being are discussed.     

Italian Americans in the ‘Bocce Belt’: ‘Old World’ memories and ‘New World’ identities

This essay examines the development of an ethnically and racially segregated resort landscape in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York in the twentieth century. Focusing on the history of Italian American resorts clustered primarily in Greene County, New York, it demonstrates that ethnicity continued to shape the social and cultural lives of many European immigrant New Yorkers and their families well after World War II. Ethnic resorts provided vacationers with an insulated recreational environment in which group identity and transatlantic ties – both real and imagined – could be fostered and sustained. However, the flexibility of these ethnic identities and the pervasive discrimination against African Americans at ethnic resorts in the 1940s and 1950s reveals the extent to which European Americans had largely internalized a sense of white ethnic identity by the postwar decades. The history of ethnic resorts in the Catskills sheds light on the process by which generations of European Americans in New York City negotiated these multiple ethnic, national, and racial identities.     

Food Stamp Program Participation Among Impoverished African Americans

This study identifies the characteristics of eligible African Americans who are not receiving food stamps. Secondary analysis of the American Community Survey focused on 14,443 African American citizens aged 18 and over who were living below the poverty line. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used to compare the 6,558 recipients of food stamps with the 7,885 non-recipients. Less than half of impoverished African American adults used food stamps in the previous year. Food stamp use was higher among females, younger respondents, and those who had not completed high school. FSP participation was associated with co-residing with children, receiving welfare benefits and reports of functional limitations. This study can inform food security activism and improved outreach to impoverished African Americans.     

Wealth Inequality in Black and White: Cultural and Structural Sources of the Racial Wealth Gap

Using data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances, this research examines competing and complementary cultural and structural explanations of the sources of racial differences in wealth. We use OLS regression and quantile regression to identify the major individual-level sources of wealth differences between African Americans and whites. Whites have more favorable wealth characteristics than do African Americans on all of the variables in the analysis: gender of household head, bankruptcies, spending patterns, stock ownership, business ownership, home ownership, inheritance, educational attainment, income, occupation, age, and number of children. Cultural factors, having a female-headed family, spending patterns, and inheritance account for little of the racial wealth gap. Racial differences in income, stock ownership, and business ownership account for much of the explained racial wealth gap. Moreover, compared with whites, African Americans receive significantly lower wealth returns to education, age, income, stock ownership, and business ownership. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

Race and Ethnic Self-Identification Influences on Physical and Mental Health Statuses Among Blacks

We examine if commonly used distress measures, rates of psychiatric disorders, and chronic health conditions are affected by alternate measures of race-ethnicity for African Americans and Caribbean blacks. We examined two alternative self-identification measures to investigate if their influence might differ. A study on national household probability sample of non-institutionalized African Americans (n = 3,570) and blacks from Caribbean countries, who now live in the United States (n = 1,621), was conducted between February 2001 and June 2003, using a slightly modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. The method used to measure black race and ethnicity has influence on physical and mental health outcomes. The distributions of depressive symptoms are not affected, while the distributions of DSM IV disorders and chronic health conditions vary by race and ethnic self-identifications among the African American and Caribbean black populations. There are serious implications of using alternate measures of race-ethnicity on the distribution of physical and mental health morbidity among African Americans and Caribbean blacks. The conceptualization and assessment of race-ethnicity should be carefully considered when studying mental and physical health statuses and service needs in the American black population.     

Performing Identity and Persuading a Public: The Harlem On My Mind Controversy

This article analyses the performance of racial identity in the events surrounding the 1969 exhibition Harlem On My Mind held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This racial performativity reflected widespread anxiety about the inclusion of African Americans in American art museums, where they had typically been excluded, and the ambiguous role of whites in addressing demands for representation. Faced with such demands, white curators, directors, and other museum professionals did not easily cede their authority. Instead they tried to demonstrate that they were no longer impediments to African American access, but rather facilitators of that access. Using the exhibition Harlem On My Mind as a case study, this article aims to shed light on the instrumental uses of race identity in the field of museums in the 1960s and today.     

Cultural Activities,Identities, and Mental Health Among Urban American Indians with Mixed Racial/Ethnic Ancestries

Focus groups were conducted to appreciate the voices of Urban American Indians (UAI) who have mixed ancestries residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Participants (15 women and 10 men, 19–83 years of age) with a variety of Native ancestries coming from different nations (i.e., blackfeet, blackminkwa, Cherokee, Creek, Delaware, Lakota, Powhatan, Seminole, and Shawnee) reported to also have a Non-Native racial/ethnic ancestry such as African/black, Hispanic, and/or Caucasian/white. Specifically, this study provided evidence about (a) the complexity and challenge of being “mixed” UAI (e.g., “living a culture” as opposed to blood quantum in determining a personal identity) (b) the linkage of cultural identities to mental health (c) contributions of cultural activities to identities and mental health (e.g., therapeutic and healing functions of cultural activities), and (d) very limited urban Native-oriented mental health service (e.g., visions for Native American-centered mental health clinic in an urban setting). Building on those UAI’s voices, this paper provides a context for the need of a culturally respectful transformation of urban mental health system by highlighting the clinical significance of cultural identity and mental health promotion for UAI.     

Reciprocal Family,Friendship and Church Support Networks of African Americans: Findings from the National Survey of American Life

This study examined reciprocal support networks involving extended family, friends and church members among African Americans. Our analysis examined specific patterns of reciprocal support (i.e., received only, gave only, both gave and received, neither gave or received), as well as network characteristics (i.e., contact and subjective closeness) as correlates of reciprocal support. The analysis is based on the African American subsample of the National Survey of American Life. Overall, our findings indicate that African Americans are very involved in reciprocal support networks with their extended family, friends and church members. Respondents were most extensively involved in reciprocal supports with extended family members, followed closely by friends and church networks. Network characteristics (i.e., contact and subjective closeness) were significantly and consistently associated with involvement with reciprocal support exchanges for all three networks. These and other findings are discussed in detail. This study complements previous work on the complementary roles of family, friend and congregational support networks, as well as studies of racial differences in informal support networks.     

Racial Imagery and Support for Voter ID Laws

Previous research suggests that calls for voter ID laws include racialized appeals and that racial attitudes influence support for such laws. This study uses an experiment to test whether exposure to racial imagery also affects support for voter ID laws. The data come from a survey experiment embedded in the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (N = 1,436) randomizing the race of a voter and poll worker shown to respondents (African American voter and poll worker, white voter and poll worker, or no image). The results show that white respondents who saw an image of an African American voter and poll worker expressed greater support for voter ID laws than those in the no image condition, even after controlling for the significant effects of racial resentment and political ideology. Exposure to an image of a white voter and poll worker did not produce a similar effect. The findings provide new evidence that public opinion about voter ID laws is racialized.     

‘It was about claiming space’: exposure to Asian American studies,ethnic organization participation,and the negotiation of self among southeast Asian Americans

Despite the growing number of Asian American Studies (AAS) programs and Asian ethnic organizations across colleges and universities since the 1970s, surprisingly little empirical research examines the role of these aspects of higher education on Asian American identity. How do the roles of AAS curriculum and Asian American student organizations (Asian American activities) influence southeast Asian American college students’ ethnic and panethnic identity formation? Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews of 1.5 and second-generation college-educated Asian Americans, this study finds that the exposure to Asian American activities shapes respondents’ racial and ethnic identity construction. Specifically, the exposure to Asian American activities: (1) evokes an informed assertion of a contextual panethnic identity; (2) serves to trigger an assertion of a hyphenated American identity; and lastly, (3) plays a direct, but differing, instrumental role on identity construction among different Asian American sub-ethnic groups.     

Mental Health Help-Seeking Profiles Among African Americans: Exploring the Influence of Religion

African Americans with mental health problems consult a variety of sources for assistance. Most studies report a preference for informal sources rather than professional sources of help with mental health concerns. While it is clear that African Americans seek help from both informal and professional sources, less known is whether there are unique subpopulations of African Americans that can be defined by their support and services use. Given the importance of religion in the lives of African Americans, it also important to understand the role of religious involvement in determining help-seeking behaviors. This study used latent class analysis and data from the National Survey of American Life (n = 1315) to identify distinct profiles of help-seeking behavior among African Americans with mental health disorders defined by informal (e.g., clergy, family, and friends) and professional sources (e.g., health and mental healthcare providers) of support and services. Findings revealed two help-seeking classes: Low Use/Informal Support (95%) and High Use/All Support (5%). Low subjective religious involvement was associated with membership in the Low Use/Informal Support class. High non-organizational religious involvement was associated with membership in the High Use/All Support class. No associations between demographic characteristics were found between the two classes. Findings highlight heterogeneity in help-seeking behavior among African Americans and the importance of considering multiple domains of religious involvement in influencing these behaviors. Findings highlight the importance of collaborative efforts between religious institutions, health and mental healthcare providers, family and friendship networks in the delivery of mental health care to African Americans.     

Immigration and Economic Conditions Among Older Asian Americans

This study compares native-immigrant gaps in economic conditions among older Asian Americans to those in other racial groups. This study uses the American Community Survey data collected from 2006 to 2010. The sample consists of Asians, whites, blacks, and Hispanics, who are 65 years old or older (N = 2,205,148). The dependent variables are per capita income, poverty, asset income, homeownership, and vehicle ownership. This study employs linear and logit regressions. Analysis results show that older native Asian Americans’ economic statuses are comparable to or better than older native whites. Older immigrant Asian Americans’ economic situations are worse off than older immigrant whites but better off than their black and Hispanic counterparts. Regression analyses indicate that native-immigrant gaps among older Asian Americans are significantly larger than those among other racial groups. These findings suggest that the public perception of economically successful immigrant Asians is not consistent with the economic reality of older immigrant Asian Americans. Analysis results call for further research on native-immigrant gaps among older Asian Americans and policy interventions to enhance economic security among older minority groups, including older immigrant Asian Americans.     

Remapping American-ness: Heritage Production and the Staging of the Native American and the African American as Other in 'Historyland'

The American tourism industry in the 1950s helped to produce certain notions of America, or what it meant to be American, at a time when these identities were in flux. Visitors to 'Historyland', an attraction that reconstructed a nineteenth-century Wisconsin logging town, could experience a living lumberjack community, as well as an 'authentic' Indian Village and a dining car restaurant with black waiters. The Native Americans and African Americans, by performing their 'historic' roles, were staged as examples of 'the other' which European American tourists could encounter, and against which they could define their own sense of American-ness.     

Mexican illegality,black citizenship,and white power: immigrant perceptions of the U.S. socioracial hierarchy

While some scholars contend that immigrant integration is predicated on a strategic distancing from Blacks and closeness to Whites, others argue that highly racialised immigrants share more commonality with Black Americans than Whites. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Mexican immigrant newcomers to Los Angeles, California, this article examines how immigrants make sense of their position in U.S. socioracial hierarchy vis-à-vis other racialised groups. I show that as immigrants navigate U.S. social, racial, and political landscapes, they come to view ‘American-ness’ and the citizenship status inherent in it as a key marker of distinction between themselves and those they deem ‘American’. Immigrants thus view their group status as an inferior one relative not only to the dominant White group, but also to Black Americans, albeit for qualitatively different reasons. Findings highlight how the vulnerability of ‘illegality’ not only reinforces existing social boundaries with Whites, but also shapes the nature of socioracial boundaries with Black Americans that can hinder the potential for racial solidarity and has broader implications for the U.S. socioracial hierarchy.     

Discrimination and Help-Seeking: Use of Professional Services and Informal Support Among African Americans,Black Caribbeans,and Non-Hispanic Whites with a Mental Disorder

This study used data from the National Survey of American Life to investigate the use of professional services and informal support among African Americans, black Caribbeans, and non-Hispanic whites. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association of race and perceived discrimination with the use of professional services only, informal support only, both professional services and informal support, or no help at all. Fifty-one percent of the sample used both professional services and informal support, 16% relied on professional services only, 20% used informal support only, and 13% did not seek help. Before controlling for other factors, African Americans and black Caribbeans were significantly less likely to receive either professional or informal help compared with whites. When everyday racial discrimination was included, racial differences in not seeking help were no longer significant. Household income also influenced the relationship between race and help-seeking. Other factors significantly associated with help-seeking include age, gender, education, employment status, insurance coverage, type and severity of disorder, and subjective closeness to family and friends. The association of these factors and implication of the findings for future research and mental health service delivery will be discussed.