African American Women's Health: An Examination of Resource Needs, Context, and Public Policy over the Life Course

Abstract

AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN’S HEALTH: AN EXAMINATION OF RESOURCE NEEDS, CONTEXT, AND POLICY OVER THE LIFE COURSE By: Cynthia Iris Newbille, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. Major Director: Kevin W. Allison, Ph.D., Professor Department of Psychology, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs African American women die at an earlier age and at higher rates from preventable and/or treatable diseases than their European American counterparts. Notwithstanding epidemiology’s successful identification of proximal, individually-based risk factors (such as diet, exercise, and smoking), and research supporting our understanding of differential rates of metabolic conditions (e.g., high blood pressure, stroke), African American women’s poor health outcomes persist. Grounded in an ecological and life course framework, the current study examined both proximal and distal contexts as a backdrop for understanding individual life course pathways that impact urban African American women’s health outcomes, with a focused examination of Black women’s experience of and risks for metabolic disorders (e.g., heart disease, diabetes and obesity).