Troxel WM, Matthews KA, Bromberger
JT, Sutton-Tyrrell K. Chronic Stress Burden, Discrimination, and
Subclinical Carotid Artery Disease in African American and Caucasian
Women. Health Psychology. 2003;22(3):300-309.
Primary Question: What
is the impact of the accumulated burden of multiple stressors,
including discrimination, on subclinical carotid disease in
African-American and Caucasian women?
Summary of Findings:
African Americans reported greater stress and had higher carotid
intima-media thickness (IMT) compared to Caucasians. Among
African Americans only, greater accumulated stress and unfair treatment
was associated with higher IMT.
Guyll M, Matthews
KA, Bromberger JT. Discrimination and Unfair Treatment:
Relationship to Cardiovascular Reactivity Among African American and
European American Women. Health Psychology.
2001;20(5):315-325.
Primary Question: Do women who report experiences of discrimination show blood pressure responses?
Summary of Findings: African-American
women (but not European-Americans) who report experiencing subtle forms
of mistreatment due to their race show an elevated diastolic blood
pressure during a laboratory task that bears similarities to an
encounter with racial prejudice. This is not seen for a
non-similar task. These findings suggest that racial
discrimination is a chronic stressor that might impact negatively on
African-American s cardiovascular health.
Lewis
TT, Everson-Rose SA, Sternfeld B, Karavolos K , Wesley D, Powell
LH. Race, Education, and Weight Change in a Biracial Sample of
Women at Midlife. Archives of Internal Medicine.
2005;165:545-551.
Primary Question: How do race and
socioeconomic status influence weight and weight gain over time in
African-American and Caucasian women? Is the relationship between
socioeconomic status and weight gain the same in African-American and
Caucasian women?
Summary of Findings: We observed significant
racial differences in the effects of socioeconomic status (measured by
education) on weight for middle-aged women. At baseline,
African-American women at all levels of education were equally heavy,
while Caucasian women were thinner with each incremental increase in
educational attainment. Over time, women of both races and all
educational levels gained equally (about 1.3 pounds each year).
Consequently, the absolute level differences observed at baseline
persisted over time.
Everson-Rose SA, Meyer PM,
Powell LH, Pandey D, Torrens JI, Kravitz HM, Bromberger JT, Matthews
KA. Depressive Symptoms, Insulin Resistance, and Risk of Diabetes
in Women at Midlife. Diabetes Care. 2004;27(12):2856-2862.
Primary Question: Does
a high level of depressive symptoms predict increased risk of diabetes
and increases in insulin resistance over time? Do associations
vary by race?
Summary of Findings: Compared to Caucasian
women, African-American women with a symptom score of 16 or higher on
our measure of depression showed elevated risk of developing diabetes
over 3 years of follow-up that could not be explained by known diabetes
risk factors. Depressed African-Americans similarly showed
significant increases in insulin resistance over time, compared to
non-depressed women. Depression was not related to changes in
insulin resistance among the other racial groups.
Bromberger
JT, Harlow S, Avis N, Kravitz HM, Cordal A. Racial/Ethnic
Differences in the Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-Aged
Women: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).
American Journal of Public Health. 2004;94(8):1378-1385.
Primary Question: (1)
Are there differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms among
ethnic groups? And if so, (2) what factors (education, income, health,
etc.) might influence these differences? (3) What are the relative
contributions of ethnicity, social economic status, health, lifestyle
and psychosocial factors to depression in middle-aged women?
Summary of Findings: Unadjusted
analyses showed that rates of depression (Center for Epidemiological
Studies depression scale (CES-D) score greater than or equal to 16)
varied significantly by ethnicity. They were highest among African
American and Hispanic and lowest among Japanese and Chinese women.
Separate analyses showed that adjustments for social economic status
and demographic factors in one, and health factors in another,
attenuated the effects of ethnicity. The final model showed that
health, physical activity, stress, and social support were each
significantly associated with depression.
Hall M,
Bromberger J, Matthews K. Socioeconomic Status as a Correlate of
Sleep in African-American and Caucasian Women. Annals of the New
York Academy of Sciences. 1999;896:427-30.
Primary Question: How is sleep impacted by socioeconomic status (SES)?
Summary of Findings: Income
and the subjective stress of lower SES were significantly related to
sleep, after controlling for age, race, menstrual status and education.
Lower income and moderate to severe difficulty making ends meet were
significantly associated with poorer subjective sleep quality. In a
separate set of analyses, difficulty in making ends meet was shown to
fully mediate the relationship between income and subjective sleep
quality.
Brown C, Matthews KA, Bromberger
JT. How Do African American and Caucasian Women View Themselves
at Midlife? Journal of Applied and Social Psychology.
Primary Question: What
are women s perceptions of themselves at midlife (e.g., personal
growth, purpose in life, goal attainment)? To what extent are
demographic, health status, stress and optimism associated with these
perceptions?
Summary of Findings: Women have a positive sense
of well-being at midlife. Dispositional optimism was the only
significant correlate of women s self-reported sense of identity
and security at midlife. African American and Caucasian women
shared many similar perceptions; African American women reported a
greater sense of security and identity at midlife. Further,
African American women with high stress and greater financial need had
higher identity and security, while the opposite was true of Caucasian
women.
