Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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Author: search.filters.author.Williams, David R.Subject: search.filters.subject.Research

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Understanding high-risk behavior among non-dominant minorities: A social resistance framework
    (2011) Factor, Roni; Kawachi, Ichiro; Williams, David R.
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    Discrimination and racial disparities in health: evidence and needed research
    (2009) Williams, David R.; Mohammed, Selina A.
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Race, socioeconomic status, and health: Complexities, ongoing challenges, and research opportunities
    (2010) Williams, David R.; Mohammed, Selina A.; Leavell, Jacinta; Collins, Chiquita
    Abstract available at publisher's web site.
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    Changing to the 2000 Standard Million: Are Declining Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health Real Progress or Statistical Illusion?
    (2001) Krieger, Nancy; Williams, David R.
    Objectives. This study determined the effects of changing from the 1940 to the 2000 standard million on monitoring socioeconomic and racial/ethnic inequalities in health. Methods. Using the 1940, 1970, and 2000 standard million, we calculated and compared ageadjusted rates for selected health outcomes stratified by socioeconomic level. Results. Changing from the 1940 to the 2000 standard million markedly reduced the age-adjusted relative risks for self-reported fair or poor health status of poor Americans compared with high-income Americans. Conclusions. Public health researchers and practitioners should give serious consideration to the implications of the change to the 2000 standard million for monitoring social inequalities in health.
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    US SOCIOECONOMIC AND RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN HEALTH: Patterns and Explanations
    (1995) Williams, David R.; Collins, Chiquita
    This chapter reviews recent studies of socioeconomic status (SES) and racial differences in health. It traces patterns of the social distribution of disease over time and describes the evidence for both a widening SES differential in health status and an increasing racial gap in health between blacks and whites due, in part, to the worsening health status of the African American population. We also describe variations in health status within and between other racial populations. The interactions between SES and race are examined, and we explore the link between health inequalities and socioeconomic ineqality both by examing the nature of the SES gradient and by identifying the determinants of the magnitude of SES disparities over time. We consider the ways in which major social structures and processes such as racism, acculturation, work, migration, and childhood SES produce inequalities in health. We also attend to the ways in which other intervening factors and resources are constrained by social structure. Measurement issues are addressed, and implications for health policy and future research are described.
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    Self-reported Racial Discrimination and Substance Use in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Adults Study
    (2007) Borrell, Luisa N.; Jacobs, David R., Jr.; Williams, David R.; Pletcher, Mark J.; Houston, Thomas K.; Kiefe, Catarina I.
    The authors investigated whether substance use and self-reported racial discrimination were associated in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. Smoking status, alcohol consumption, and lifetime use of marijuana, amphetamines, and opiates were ascertained in 2000–2001, 15 years after baseline(1985–1986). Most of the 1,507 African Americans reported having experienced racial discrimination, 79.5% at year 7 and 74.6% at year 15, compared with 29.7% and 23.7% among the 1,813 Whites. Compared with African Americans experiencing no discrimination, African Americans reporting any discrimination had more education and income, while the opposite was true for Whites (all p < 0.001). African Americans experiencing racial discrimination in at least three of seven domains in both years had 1.87 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18, 2.96) and 2.12 (95% CI: 1.42, 3.17) higher odds of reporting current tobacco use and having any alcohol in the past year than did their counterparts experiencing no discrimination. With control for income and education, African Americans reporting discrimination in three or more domains in both years had 3.31 (95% CI: 1.90, 5.74) higher odds of using marijuana 100 or more times in their lifetime, relative to African Americans reporting no discrimination. These associations were similarly positive in Whites but not significant. Substance use may be an unhealthy coping response to perceived unfair treatment for some individuals, regardless of their race/ethnicity.
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    Prevalence and Distribution of Major Depressive Disorder in African Americans, Caribbean Blacks, and Non-Hispanic Whites
    (2007) Williams, David R.; Gonza´ lez, Hector M.; Neighbors, Harold; Nesse, Randolph; Abelson, Jamie M.; Sweetman, Julie; Jackson, James S.
    Context: Little is known about the relationship between race/ethnicity and depression among US blacks. Objective: To estimate the prevalence, persistence, treatment, and disability of depression in African Americans, Caribbean blacks, and non-Hispanic whites in the National Survey of American Life. Design: A slightly modified adaptation of the World Health Organization World Mental Health version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Setting: National household probability samples of noninstitutionalized African Americans, Caribbean blacks, and non-Hispanic whites in the United States conducted between February 2, 2001, and June 30, 2003. Participants: A total of 3570 African Americans, 1621 Caribbean blacks, and 891 non-Hispanic whites aged 18 years and older (N=6082). Main Outcome Measures: Lifetime and 12-month diagnoses of DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD), 12-month mental health services use, and MDD disability as quantified using the Sheehan Disability Scale and the World Health Organization’s Disability Assessment Schedule II. Results: Lifetime MDD prevalence estimates were highest for whites (17.9%), followed by Caribbean blacks (12.9%) and African Americans (10.4%); however, 12- month MDD estimates across groups were similar. The chronicity of MDD was higher for both black groups (56.5% for African Americans and 56.0% for Caribbean blacks) than for whites (38.6%). Fewer than half of the African Americans (45.0%) and fewer than a quarter (24.3%) of the Caribbean blacks who met the criteria received any form of MDD therapy. In addition, relative to whites, both black groups were more likely to rate their MDD as severe or very severe and more disabling. Conclusions: WhenMDDaffects African Americans and Caribbean blacks, it is usually untreated and is more severe and disabling compared with that in non-Hispanic whites. The burden of mental disorders, especially depressive disorders, may be higher among US blacks than in US whites.