Search results

Theoretical and empirical integration of the rejection sensitivity (RS) model to sexual minority people is one of the few attempts to extend existing theoretical frameworks that explain mental health disparities for this population, namely the minority stress framework (Meyer,  2003 ) and its extensions (Hatzenbuehler,  2009 ; Testa, Habarth, Peta, Balsam, & Bockting,  2015 ). Theoretical origins of RS are rooted in the desire to understand how rejection from significant others affects subsequent other close relationships (Downey & Feldman,  1996 ). This was later extended to conceptualize rejection based on membership of a stigmatized group and modified to understand sexual orientation-related RS among sexual minorities (Dyar, Feinstein, Eaton, & London,  2016 ; Pachankis, Goldfried, & Ramrattan,  2008 ). Feinstein ( 2019 ) brings new life to this adapted application by grounding and integrating the basic tenets of sexual orientation-related RS alongside a critical health compromising process of minority stress: vigilance. Meyer theorized vigilance as a core form of proximal minority stressors and explains that “LGB people learn to anticipate—indeed, expect—negative regard from members of the dominant culture. To ward off potential negative regard, discrimination, and violence, they must be vigilant” and this vigilance is “related to feared possible (even if imagined) negative events” (Meyer,  2003 , p. 680–681). Feinstein explains that existing theoretical frameworks (Hatzenbuehler,  2009 ; Meyer,  2003 ) mention vigilance and RS as important processes, but lack a comprehensive integration of these concepts. Given that schemas for RS are formed early in the life course, we focus on the applicability to sexual minority adolescents, and other marginalized groups.

In the US, African Americans have a higher prevalence of hypertension than Whites. Previous studies show that social support contributes to the racial differences in hypertension but are limited in accounting for the social and environmental effects of racial residential segregation. We examined whether the association between race and hypertension varies by the level of social support among African Americans and Whites living in similar social and environmental conditions, specifically an urban, low-income, racially integrated community. Using data from the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-Southwest Baltimore (EHDIC-SWB) sample, we hypothesized that social support moderates the relationship between race and hypertension and the racial difference in hypertension is smaller as the level of social support increases. Hypertension was defined as having systolic blood pressure greater than 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure greater than 90 mmHg, or the participant reports of taking antihypertensive medication(s). The study only included participants that self-reported as “Black/African American” or “White.” Social support was measured as functional social support and marital status. After adjusting for demographics and health-related characteristics, we found no interaction between social support and race (DUFSS score, prevalence ratio 1.00; 95% confidence interval 0.99, 1.01; marital status, prevalence ratio 1.02; 95% confidence interval 0.86, 1.21); thus the hypothesis was not supported. A plausible explanation is that the buffering factor of social support cannot overcome the social and environmental conditions which the participants live in. Further, these findings emphasize social and environmental conditions of participants in EHDIC-SWB may equally impact race and hypertension.

Caryn N. Bell University of Maryland: Loneke T. Blackman Carr Duke University: 2019-006

Raymond Guiteras, University of Maryland; Esther Duflo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Michael Greenstone, University of Chicago; Thomas Clasen, Emory University; 2015-008

The Impact of Parental Involvement Laws on the Abortion Rate of Minors

This year’s crabbing season is fraught with difficult choices for the nearly all-foreign-women workers during the pandemic hit

Global Warming and the Demographic Future

2018 Conference

Although chronic life strain is often found to be associated with adverse health outcomes, empirical research is lacking on the health implications of persistent role overload that many women around the world are subject to, the so-called double burden of work and family responsibilities. Using data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (1994-2012), we examined the linkage between time-use profiles and body mass index (BMI) trajectories for Filipino women over an 18-year span. Out of the four classes of women with differential levels of a combination of work and family duties, the group with the heaviest double burden has the highest average BMI. In addition, those who have remained in this class for three or more waves of data not only have higher BMI on average but also have experienced the steepest rate of increase in BMI upon transition from midlife to old age.