Windows of opportunity: fundamental concepts for understanding alcohol-related disparities experienced by young Blacks in the United States.

This paper presents a theoretical framework for conceptualizing alcohol-related disparities experienced by young Blacks in the United States. The framework highlights areas of risk and opportunity as they relate to the development of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. In this paper, life course development theory serves as a guide for identifying a critical period in the development of alcohol-related disparities and it serves to guide the identification of opportunities to prevent or attenuate this health outcome.

Familial roles of older African-American women with type 2 diabetes: testing of a new multiple caregiving measure.

Objective: This study describes the development and validation of a new multiple caregiving (MC) measure and examines how familial caregiving relates to family composition and psychosocial factors among older African-American women with type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: The study sample included 345 African-American women with type 2 diabetes who participated in two lifestyle behavior interventions. A new 12-item survey of caregiving perceptions was tested for internal reliability and construct validity of two empirically defined scales (MC-role and MC-barriers).