Ethnic Disparities in Trauma-Related Mental Illness: Is Ethnic Identity a Buffer?

Despite evidence that racial and ethnic characteristics influence the impact of traumatic exposure on psychological health, little is known about how race and ethnic identity can alter, and possibly protect against, the effects of trauma on the psychiatric diagnoses of women. Therefore, the present study examined the moderating role of race/ethnicity and ethnic identity in the link between trauma exposure and psychiatric diagnosis for African American and Caucasian college women. Participants were a sample of 242 women from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States who self-identified as African American or Black (31%) and European American or Caucasian (69%; age = 19.

Looming animate and inanimate threats: the response of the amygdala and periaqueductal gray.

Looming stimuli are processed as threatening and activate basic neural defense systems. However, it is unclear how animacy information modulates this response. Participants (N = 25) viewed threatening or neutral images that were either animate (animals) or inanimate (objects) and which either approached (loomed) or receded from the participant.

Using a community-based participatory research approach to develop a faith-based obesity intervention for African American children.

Childhood obesity is a major epidemic, with African American (AA) children aged 6 to 11 years experiencing increased burden. The AA faith community has numerous assets that point to the need for the intersection of faith and health to address obesity-related racial disparities. The purpose of the Our Bodies, God's Temples (OBGT) study was to examine diet, physical activity, and body image behaviors among AA children aged 6 to 11 years; receptivity to a faith-based obesity intervention among AA children, parents, and church leaders; and strengths and barriers of implementing a faith-based obesity curriculum in the Sunday school setting.

In their own voices: rural African American youth speak out about community-based HIV prevention interventions.

Background: The HIV epidemic is a major public health problem in the United States, particularly among rural African American adolescents and young adults.

Objectives: We sought to explore young, rural African American's perspectives about key programmatic components to consider when designing youth-targeted, community- based HIV prevention interventions.

Methods: We report data from four focus groups with adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 24 (n = 38) conducted as part of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project designed to develop multilevel HIV risk reduction interventions in two rural North Carolina communities with high HIV rates.

In their own voices: rural African-American youth speak out about community-based HIV prevention interventions.

Background: The HIV epidemic is a major public health problem in the United States, particularly among rural African American adolescents and young adults.

Objectives: We sought to explore young, rural African American’s perspectives about key programmatic components to consider when designing youth-targeted, community-based HIV prevention interventions.

Methods: We report data from four focus groups with adolescents and young adults aged 16 to 24 ( = 38) conducted as part of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project designed to develop multilevel HIV risk reduction interventions in two rural North Carolina communities with high HIV rates.