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Objective: To what extent do mainstream media, social media, and ethnic media consumption, as dominant and counter‐dominant forms of public discourse, connect to where people prefer to live? We unpack whether media consumption influences such preferences in Texas, a racially segregated and increasingly racially diverse state. Methods: Using the Texas Diversity Survey (n = 1,322), we run a series of logit regression models, stratified by respondent race (Black, Latinx, Multiracial, and White), to measure the relationship between media consumption and racial residential preferences. Results: We find that racial residential preferences are shaped not only by expected attributes (e.g., age, education, racial composition of current neighborhood of residence) but also by whether mainstream media are consumed for Latinx respondents. Whites who consume ethnic media are significantly more likely to prefer living in Black and Latinx communities. Conclusion: These findings suggest that public discourse is connected to residential preference formation and a "sense of group position"—but how this happens depends on the media source as well as the group in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from the 2001-2003 National Survey of American Life are used to investigate the effects of phenotype on everyday experiences with discrimination among African Americans ( N = 3343). Latent class analysis is used to identify four classes of discriminatory treatment: (1) low levels of discrimination, (2) disrespect and condescension, (3) character-based discrimination, and (4) high levels of discrimination. We then employ latent class multinomial logistic regression to evaluate the association between skin tone and body weight and these four classes of discrimination. Designating the low-level discrimination class as the reference group, findings revealed that respondents with darker skin were more likely to be classified into the disrespect/condescension and the high-level microaggression types. BMI was unrelated to the discrimination type, although there was a significant interaction effect between gender and BMI. BMI was strongly and positively associated with membership in the disrespect and condescension type among men but not among women. These findings indicate that skin tone and body weight are two phenotypic characteristics that influence the type and frequency of discrimination experienced by African Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study examined the impact of everyday discrimination (both racial and non-racial) on the mental health of older African Americans.Methods: This analysis is based on the older African American subsample of the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) (n = 773). We examined the associations between everyday discrimination and both general distress and psychiatric disorders as measured by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Six dependent variables were examined: lifetime mood disorders, lifetime anxiety disorders, any lifetime disorder, number of lifetime disorders, depressive symptoms as measured by the 12-item Center for Epidemiological Scale of Depression (CES-D), and serious psychological distress as measured by the Kessler 6 (K6).Results: Overall, racial and non-racial everyday discrimination were consistently associated with worse mental health for older African Americans. Older African Americans who experienced higher levels of overall everyday discrimination had higher odds of any psychiatric disorder, any lifetime mood disorder, any lifetime anxiety disorder, and more lifetime DSM-IV disorders, in addition to elevated levels of depressive symptoms and serious psychological distress. These findings were similar for both racial discrimination and non-racial discrimination.Conclusions: This study documents the harmful association of not only racial discrimination, but also non-racial (and overall) discrimination with the mental health of older African Americans. Specifically, discrimination is negatively associated with mood and anxiety disorders as well as depressive symptoms and psychological distress. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers often assume that the extent, quality, and effectiveness of personal relationships explain why African Americans have relatively good mental health despite experiencing high levels of stress. This study tests this assumption using data from the 1990–1992 National Comorbidity Survey. Few racial differences emerge in patterns of social relationships, and the nature and quality of social relationships do not explain African Americans’ resiliency on mental health. Several aspects of social relationships benefit African Americans’ mental health more than Whites’, but these moderating effects are insubstantial. Hence, the data do not support the assumption. If social relationships help explain the lack of racial differences in mental health, their nature and effects must be more adequately conceptualized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the analysis of the predisposing and enabling factors that affect black/white differences in utilization of prenatal care services. Total number of prenatal care visits; timing of star of prenatal care; Adequacy of care received.

The argument presented here is that parental divorce diminishes the economic and social resources available to children, which in turn has negative consequences for children's educational attainment, marital timing, marital probability, and divorce probability. Based upon a combined sample of national data, for white respondents only, the analysis shows that parental divorce is associated with lower educational attainment and earlier age at marriage for both sexes. Daughters of divorced parents have a higher probability of being divorced. For sons of divorced parents, the probability of ever marrying is lower and of divorcing is higher only if they have lower social class backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines ethnic differences in the demand for physician and hospital utilization among older adults in major American cities using behavioral models of health service utilization by five ethnic groups of elderly Americans. The data group consisted of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, blacks and Anglo-Americans living in the 31 largest metropolitan statistical areas. It was found that there are ethnic differences in the use of health services and in the determinants of health behavior.