Skin Bleaching Among African and Afro-Caribbean Women in New York City: Primary Findings from a P30 Pilot Study.

Introduction: The application of skin bleaching products to inhibit melanogenesis is a common practice within the African diaspora. Despite the adverse health effects of skin bleaching, rigorous studies investigating skin bleaching behavior among these populations in the United States are limited. In our P30 pilot study, we explored predictors of skin bleaching practice intensity among African and Afro-Caribbean women.

Engaging Communities in Research on Cumulative Risk and Social Stress-Environment Interactions: Lessons Learned from EPA's STAR Program.

Studies have documented cumulative health effects of chemical and nonchemical exposures, particularly chronic environmental and social stressors. Environmental justice groups have advocated for community participation in research that assesses how these interactions contribute to health disparities experienced by low-income and communities of color. In 2009, the U.

Collaborating for Systems Change: A Social Science Framework for Academic Roles in Community Partnerships.

Environmental health researchers, government agencies, and community groups have endorsed long-term community-academic partnerships as an effective strategy to support science-based improvements in environmental health. Social sciences concepts, approaches, and methods are fundamental to these translational partnerships. However, appropriate roles for academic partners vary throughout the process of changing systems (policies, practices, programs, etc.

Identifying Perceived Neighborhood Stressors Across Diverse Communities in New York City.

There is growing interest in the role of psychosocial stress in health disparities. Identifying which social stressors are most important to community residents is critical for accurately incorporating stressor exposures into health research. Using a community-academic partnered approach, we designed a multi-community study across the five boroughs of New York City to characterize resident perceptions of key neighborhood stressors.

Social stressors and air pollution across New York City communities: a spatial approach for assessing correlations among multiple exposures.

Background: Recent toxicological and epidemiological evidence suggests that chronic psychosocial stress may modify pollution effects on health. Thus, there is increasing interest in refined methods for assessing and incorporating non-chemical exposures, including social stressors, into environmental health research, towards identifying whether and how psychosocial stress interacts with chemical exposures to influence health and health disparities. We present a flexible, GIS-based approach for examining spatial patterns within and among a range of social stressors, and their spatial relationships with air pollution, across New York City, towards understanding their combined effects on health.