State- and Provider-Level Racism and Health Care in the U.S.

Introduction: This study examines the associations between state-level and provider sources of racism and healthcare access and quality for non-Hispanic Black and White individuals.

Methods: Data from 2 sources were integrated: (1) data from the Association of American Medical Colleges' Consumer Survey of Health Care Access (2014-2019), which included measures of self-reported healthcare access, healthcare quality, and provider racial discrimination and (2) administrative data compiled to index state-level racism. State-level racism composite scores were calculated from federal sources (U.

Integrating Biomarkers in Social Stratification and Health Research.

This article provides an overview of the integration of biomarkers and biological mechanisms in social science models of stratification and health. The goal in reviewing this literature is to highlight research that identifies the social forces that drive inequalities over the life course and across generations. The article is structured in the following way.

Socioeconomic Status and Biological Risks for Health and Illness Across the Life Course.

Objectives: We assess the temporal properties and biosocial mechanisms underlying the associations between early-life socioeconomic status (SES) and later health. Using a life-course design spanning adolescence to older adulthood, we assess how early life and various dimensions of adult SES are associated with immune and metabolic function in different life stages and examine possible bio-behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms underlying these associations.

Method: Data for this study come from 3 national studies that collectively cover multiple stages of the life course (Add Health, MIDUS, and HRS).

Religious Pathways from Adolescence to Adulthood.

Prior research suggests the significance of religion for development and wellbeing in adolescence and beyond. Further, new developments and applications of statistical methods have led to ways of better accounting for the multidimensional nature of religiosity (e.g.

College completion predicts lower depression but higher metabolic syndrome among disadvantaged minorities in young adulthood.

Individuals with higher educational attainment live healthier and longer lives. However, not everyone benefits equally from higher education. In particular, the black-white gap in life expectancy is greater at higher levels of educational attainment.

Young Adult Risk Factors for Cancer: Obesity, Inflammation, and Sociobehavioral Mechanisms.

Introduction: The paper assesses social disparities in the burdens of metabolic and inflammatory risks for cancer in the U.S. young adult population and examines psychosocial and behavioral mechanisms in such disparities.

Early-Life Socioeconomic Status and Adult Physiological Functioning: A Life Course Examination of Biosocial Mechanisms.

A growing literature has demonstrated a link between early-life socioeconomic conditions and adult health at a singular point in life. No research exists, however, that specifies the life course patterns of socioeconomic status (SES) in relation to the underlying biological processes that determine health. Using an innovative life course research design consisting of four nationally representative longitudinal datasets that collectively cover the human life span from early adolescence to old age (Add Health, MIDUS, NSHAP, and HRS), we address this scientific gap and assess how SES pathways from childhood into adulthood are associated with biophysiological outcomes in different adult life stages.

Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span.

Two decades of research indicate causal associations between social relationships and mortality, but important questions remain as to how social relationships affect health, when effects emerge, and how long they last. Drawing on data from four nationally representative longitudinal samples of the US population, we implemented an innovative life course design to assess the prospective association of both structural and functional dimensions of social relationships (social integration, social support, and social strain) with objectively measured biomarkers of physical health (C-reactive protein, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index) within each life stage, including adolescence and young, middle, and late adulthood, and compare such associations across life stages. We found that a higher degree of social integration was associated with lower risk of physiological dysregulation in a dose-response manner in both early and later life.

Social support, social strain and inflammation: evidence from a national longitudinal study of U.S. adults.

Social relationships have long been held to have powerful effects on health and survival, but it remains unclear whether such associations differ by function and domain of relationships over time and what biophysiological mechanisms underlie these links. This study addressed these gaps by examining the longitudinal associations of persistent relationship quality across a ten year span with a major indicator of immune function. Specifically, we examined how perceived social support and social strain from relationships with family, friends, and spouse at a prior point in time are associated with subsequent risks of inflammation, as assessed by overall inflammation burden comprised of five markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, fibrinogen, E-selectin, and intracellular adhesion molecule-1) in a national longitudinal study of 647 adults from the Midlife Development in the United States (1995-2009).

Effects of acute and repeated administration of Staphylococcal enterotoxin A on Morris water maze learning, corticosterone and hippocampal IL-1β and TNFα.

Staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) is a bacterial superantigen that induces pronounced T cell expansion and cytokine production. In addition, SEA activates the HPA axis and forebrain regions relevant to cognitive functions. Since learning-related cognitive changes have not been assessed in response to SEA, spatial learning in the Morris water maze (MWM) was determined in male C57BL/6J mice subjected to acute or repeated injections of 5μg SEA or Saline.