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Non-Hispanic Asian adults constituted 4.9% of the U.S. population in 2012, corresponding to 15.4 million people (2). This group primarily comprises persons of Chinese, Asian Indian, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Japanese descent. The prevalence of hypertension (defined as having blood pressure greater than or equal to 140/90 mm Hg or taking blood pressure-lowering medications) among non-Hispanic Asian adults aged 20 and over was 25.6%. As previously reported, this prevalence is similar to that of non-Hispanic white adults and Hispanic adults but lower than that of non-Hispanic black adults (3). Among non-Hispanic Asian adults, the prevalence of hypertension was higher among those who were older or had less education, similar to findings in U.S. adults overall (4,5). The prevalence of high total cholesterol (measured as cholesterol of at least 240 mg/dL) among non-Hispanic Asian adults was similar to that among adults of other race and Hispanic origin groups (6). Non-Hispanic Asian adults had a lower prevalence of low HDL cholesterol (measured as HDL less than 40 mg/dL) than Hispanic persons (6). Non-Hispanic Asian adult men were almost five times more likely than non-Hispanic Asian adult women to have low HDL cholesterol. While adult men in general are known to have a higher prevalence of low HDL cholesterol than adult women (7), the sex difference was larger than in other race and Hispanic origin groups (6). The prevalence of high BMI among non-Hispanic Asian adults (38.6%) was much lower than that previously reported for non-Hispanic white adults (66.7%), non-Hispanic black adults (76.7%), and Hispanic adults (78.8%) (8). BMI is widely used as a measure of body fat. However, at a given BMI level, body fat may vary by sex, age, and race and Hispanic origin. In particular, at a given BMI, Asian adults may have more body fat than white adults (9). Also, morbidity and mortality risk may be influenced by body composition and fat distribution in a manner that is not completely captured by BMI (10). This report builds on recently published estimates of hypertension, cholesterol, and obesity from NHANES 2011–2012 (3,6,11) by providing related estimates for Asian adults by select demographic characteristics. Hypertension, abnormal cholesterol levels, and elevated body weight are important risk factors for major chronic diseases, for which differences by race as well as ethnicity have been reported. The Asian population includes many ethnic groups, and the majority of non-Hispanic Asian adults in the United States are immigrants (12). Note that these estimates are for non-Hispanic Asian persons overall and may not reflect patterns for specific subgroups of Asian persons.

With each step in an academic career, from high-school graduation to promotion to full professor, there are progressive decreases in the representation of African Americans (National Science Foundation [NSF], 1988a, 1999). In the mid-1990s African Americans comprised 12% of the total population, 11% of the labor force, and 10% of those enrolled full-time in undergraduate programs, but they held less than 5% of the full-time faculty positions in four-year colleges and universities (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). Although black students are earning an ever expanding share of baccalaureate degrees granted in the United States, most fields show only minuscule improvements in their sparse representation among graduate degree recipients (Bowen & Rudenstine, 1992). In the sciences and engineering, black scholars comprised only 2.4% of the faculty in four-year institutions in 1995, just under 2% of those with tenure, and only 1.3% of the full professors (NSF, 1999). Because of the crucial role that black facul ty play in the recruitment and retention of black students, their severe underrepresentation among faculty has widespread implications at most postsecondary institutions (Blackwell, 1987, 1988). Factors at all stages of the educational pipeline have been blamed for the small and, in some fields, shrinking black doctoral labor supply and the relative scarcity of black faculty. Possible barriers include the public schools' failure to address the needs of minority children, inhospitable college campuses, a post-Baake retreat from recruiting black students for graduate programs, some states' recent abandonment of affirmative action in college and graduate admissions, and reductions in financial aid as the costs of graduate education escalate (Blackwell, 1988; Brazziel, 1988; Corner & Haynes, 1991). These barriers at early stages in the educational pipeline have also been linked to the subsequent underrepresentation of black faculty (Epps, 1989; Menges & Exum, 1983; Moore, 1988). But the very scarcity of black faculty has complicated efforts to collect representative data that would clarify how the academic labor market operates for black scholars. Until recently, many empirical studies of the impact of race on faculty careers have been limited to anecdotal evidence (e.g., Sutherland, 1990), or single disciplines (e.g., Kulis, 1992). As nationally representative studies have begun to appear, they increasingly disaggregate the data to contrast the status of black faculty across scholarly fields and institutional types (Astin, Antonio, Cress, & Astin, 1997; Russell & Fairweather, 1991; U.S. Department of Education, 1997). Detailed institutional and disciplinary breakdowns appear to be crucial in understanding black college faculty, because they are employed disproportionately in historically black institutions and two-year colleges and are concentrated in a few scholarly fields. This article examines how black faculty careers are shaped by an interplay of disciplinary and labor supply forces at work within academic science and engineering. Specifically, we investigate whether, and how, the external labor market in academia affects the locations where black college faculty find employment in the sciences and engineering. After reviewing conceptual frameworks that describe stratification processes in academic labor markets, we consider evidence of important factors that influence where black academics secure work. By identifying factors that facilitate or impede the hiring and retention of black faculty, we hope to enhance our understanding of the status of racial equity in academia and inform debates about how to increase racial diversity in higher education. Theoretical Perspectives on Academic Labor Markets Academic labor markets have been conceptualized as governed by three broad sets of factors (Breneman & Youn, 1988; Fairweather, 1995; Hansen, 1986; Winston, 1994). …

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Severe underrepresentation of African-Americans among postsecondary faculty is often linked to educational pipeline “supply” problems, while institutional variations in “demand” for black faculty labor and barriers to their recruitment and retention receive less empirical attention. Using a nationally representative sample of college faculty from a wide array of institutions and science disciplines, this study investigates links between internal organizational conditions and black faculty representation. Hypotheses derive from competing explanations of the role of race in academic organizations: institutionalized discrimination to protect dominant group privileges; statistical discrimination based on expectations of racial group differences in academic preparation; labor supply and political constraints on black faculty recruitment. A multivariate analysis examines organizational conditions that promote or curb these dynamics and their relationship to black appointments at different tenure levels. Results indicate that although the discipline-specific black doctoral labor supply is a powerful constraint on the representation of black faculty, selective organizational contexts are substantial influences as well. Although we find little evidence that insulation from competition or segmented faculty labor markets influence the racial composition of faculties, black faculty are more often found where institutionalized discrimination may be checked by greater formalization and black constituencies on campus. Consistent with statistical discrimination, black faculty are poorly represented at research-oriented institutions, even controlling for the scholarly reputation of doctoral credentials.

Previous studies have demonstrated that acculturation is associated with negative birth outcomes among mothers in numerous immigrant populations, including Latinas. This study used structural equation models to reanalyze data employed in the 1989 Scribner and Dwyer study on the effect of acculturation (measured through the Cuellar scale) on mothers' low-birthweight status. Data revealed that language components dominate the effects of acculturation on low-birthweight status. Acculturuation appears to affect low-birthweight status indirectly through smoking and dietary intake but not through parity. Acculturation has a persistent direct effect on low-birthweight status, suggesting that other intervening variables are operant.