Associations Between Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors, Perceptions, and Attitudes Towards Muscle-Strengthening Exercises Among African-Born Black Immigrant Women in the United States.

Black women in the US, including Black African immigrant women, have the lowest rates of physical activity (PA). This study aimed to identify sociodemographic, anthropometric, and health characteristics associated with PA engagement among African-born Black women immigrants. The sample consisted of 736 Black African-born women respondents the 2011-2018 National Health Interview Surveys. The outcomes of interest were aerobic activity, strengthening activity, and combined aerobic and strengthening activity. Independent variables of interest included sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and anthropometrics. Descriptive statistics and multivariable adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed. Of the 736 women, 43.1 % were sufficiently active in aerobic activities and 17.4 % met the strengthening activity guidelines. Overall, only 15.7 % of the participants met the guidelines for total PA (aerobic and strength), while 55 % did not meet any guidelines. Participants who consumed alcohol were more likely to be sufficiently active in aerobic activity compared to those who abstained (AOR = 3.54, 95 % CI [2.43,5.16]). Factors negatively associated with sufficient aerobic activity were smoking (AOR = 0.42, 95 % CI [0.19,0.92] and having obesity (AOR = 0.50, 95 % CI [0.33,0.75]). The odds of meeting strengthening activity guidelines were greater among those with high school education (AOR = 2.94, 95 % CI [1.20, 7.20]) and more than high school (AOR = 2.54, 95 % CI [1.09,5.95]) than among those with less than high school education, Additionally, being in the US 15 years or more (AOR = 2.15, 95 % CI [1.18-3.91]). and a current drinker (AOR = 2.14, 95 % CI [1.22-3.75]) was positively associated with meeting strength guidelines. Findings provide missing information about Black African immigrant women's participation in PA and suggest that more research is needed to understand how African immigrant women make decisions about PA. The findings join calls to disaggregate data and health related research on Africans.

Does Stigma Keep Poor Young Immigrant and U.S.-Born Black and Latina Women From Seeking Mental Health Care?

Risk for short interpregnancy intervals among African-born black women in Washington State

Black women in the United States (US) have the highest risk of preterm birth (PTB) and small for gestational age (SGA) births, compared to women of other racial groups. Among Black women, there are disparities by nativity whereby foreign-born women have a lower risk of PTB and SGA compared to US-born women. Differential exposure to racism may confer nativity-based differences in adverse perinatal outcomes between US- and foreign-born Black women. This remains unexplored among US- and African-born women in California. Evaluate the relationship between structural racism, nativity, PTB and SGA among US- and African-born Black women in California. We conducted a population-based study of singleton births to US- and African-born Black women in California from 2011 to 2017 (n = 131,424). We examined the risk of PTB and SGA by nativity and neighbourhoods with differing levels of structural racism, as measured by the Index of Concentration at the Extremes. We fit crude and age-adjusted Poisson regression models, estimated using generalized estimating equations, with risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) as the effect measure. The proportions of PTB and SGA were 9.7% and 14.5%, respectively, for US-born women, while 5.6% and 8.3% for African-born women. US-born women (n = 24,782; 20.8%) were more likely to live in neighbourhoods with high structural racism compared to African-born women (n = 1474; 11.6%). Structural racism was associated with an elevated risk of PTB (RR 1.19, 95% CI 1.12, 1.26) and SGA (RR 1.19, 95% CI 1.13, 1.25) for all Black women, however, there was heterogeneity by nativity, with US-born women experiencing a higher magnitude of effect than African-born women. Among Black women in California, exposure to structural racism and the impacts of structural racism on the risk of PTB and SGA varied by nativity.

Although the incidence of cervical cancer has been declining steadily since the Pap smear became standard of care in the U.S., many African immigrants are unfamiliar with this screening test and its potential benefits. Using data from the CDC's National Health Interview Surveys, we identified respondents who were black women living in the United States, distinguishing U.S.-born (n=620) and African-born (n=36). We constructed a measure of current Pap status and used multivariate logistic regression models to compare Pap status between the two groups. Controlling for income, age, education, health insurance, and marital status, African American women were over 3 times more likely to have reported a current Pap smear than African-born women [Adjusted OR=3.37, 95% CI=(1.89, 5.96)]. Being an African-born woman was the strongest predictor of current Pap status. Distinguishing immigrant status in an analysis of cervical cancer screening rates for black women indicated much lower Pap smear rates for African-born women, compared with African-American women. More research on the impact of education and culturally specific care is needed to address the disparity in Pap smear rates for African-born black women.

Background: Short birth-to-pregnancy intervals have been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Racial disparities in short birth-to-pregnancy intervals and adverse perinatal outcomes are also well known. However, little is known about birth-to-pregnancy intervals among African-born black women in the US and risk factors that contribute to short birth-to-pregnancy intervals in this population.Objectives: To investigate the risk and associated risk factors of short birth-to-pregnancy intervals among African-born black women in Washington State.Study design: A retrospective cohort study using data from linked birth certificate and hospital discharge records for 18,984 consecutive, singleton birth pairs (1992–2013) to African-born black (n = 3312), US-born white (n = 7839), and US-born black women (n = 7833) in Washington State. Logistic regression models were used to determine adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: Women with short birth-to-pregnancy intervals (<6 months) comprised 10.0% of African-born women, 4.3% of US-born white women, and 6.8% of US-born black women. African-born black women had 3-fold (aOR 3.44; 95%CI: 2.53–4.68) and 1.5-fold (aOR 1.49; 95%CI: 1.28–1.74) higher risk of short birth-to-pregnancy intervals compared with US-born white women and US-born black women, respectively. Among African-born black women, those born in East Africa (aOR 3.17; 95%CI: 1.92, 5.24) had higher odds of short birth-to-pregnancy intervals compared with those born in other regions of Africa. Maternal age ≥35 years old (aOR 0.59; 95%CI: 0.35, 0.98), multiparity (aOR 0.73; 95%CI: 0.54–0.98), > 12 years education (aOR 0.52; 95%CI: 0.38–0.71), and cesarean delivery in prior births (aOR 0.61; 95%CI: 0.44–0.84) were associated with lower odds of short birth-to-pregnancy intervals among African-born black women.Conclusions: African-born black women have higher risk for short birth-to-pregnancy intervals compared with US-born white and black women. Several risk factors (age, parity, education, and prior delivery type) contribute to short birth-to-pregnancy intervals among African-born black women. Future studies may inform our understanding of factors affecting pregnancy spacing and family planning strategies among African-born black women.

Non-Hispanic Black women remain at increased risk for adverse birth outcomes, yet Black immigrant women are at lower risk than their US-born counterparts. This study examines whether neighborhood context contributes to the nativity advantage in preterm birth (PTB, < 37weeks) among Black women in California. A sample of live singleton births to non-Hispanic US-born (n = 83,169), African-born (n = 7151), and Caribbean-born (n = 943) Black women was drawn from 2007 to 2010 California birth records and geocoded to urban census tracts. We used 2010 American Community Survey data to measure tract-level Black immigrant density, Black racial concentration, and a neighborhood deprivation index. Risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimated using log-binomial regression to assess whether neighborhood context partially explained nativity differences in PTB risk. Compared to US-born Black women, African-born Black women had lower PTB risk (RR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.60-0.71). The difference in PTB risk between US- and Caribbean-born women did not reach statistical significance (RR = 0.87, 95%CI: 0.71-1.05). The nativity advantage in PTB risk was robust to neighborhood social conditions and maternal factors for African-born women (RR = 0.59, 95%CI: 0.51-0.67). This study is one of few that considers area-level explanations of the nativity advantage among Black immigrants and makes a significant contribution by showing that the neighborhood context does not explain the nativity advantage in PTB among Black women in California. This could be due to many factors that should be examined in future research.

Passing the Baton frames the intersectionality of femininity and athleticism through an examination of the challenges experienced by Black women who compete in track and field. Sport historians will appreciate Cat Ariail's use of a historical timeline of Black women's accomplishments in track and field to express the golden age of athletic competition. Another bonus to this book is the notes section at the end of the book. The notes could be used as a guide toward continuing research on Black women in track and field, as the author thoughtfully provided thorough details on each section of the book.Insightfully, the introduction grabs the attention of the reader through teasing topics like boundaries of belonging, Black women's athleticism, and the athletic agency of Black American track women. Then the book transitions to telling the story of Alice Coachman, who specialized in the high jump and was the first African American woman to win an Olympic medal. The chapter uncovers how Coachman's presence at the Olympic games contradicted the masculine identity of the American elite athlete. To verify this notion, the author creatively uses legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson to convey the destabilization of normative Americanness during the postwar period in sports. However, the portrayal of Jackie Robinson also discloses the challenges for Black women negotiating their athletic identity while seeking to achieve American acceptance.This is further explored through an introduction to the women's track and field club the Tuskegee Tigerettes. Known for their poise, femininity, and athleticism, the Tigerettes began competing in sports in the early twentieth century. The Tigerettes challenged negative labels affixed to female athletes participating in speed and strength sports by exemplifying normative American, southern values, which they coined the Tuskegee Model.Chapter 2 explores Black women tracksters as political actors. The author shows how Olympians competing on a global stage earned the honor and power of being representatives of their countries. Black women became the face of American culture and athleticism, making them a global symbol of America.What makes this book a priceless contribution to the field of sport history, however, is Ariail's argument that the athletic victories of Black women in track and field surpassed the sports stage and directly impacted political relationships with the United States and forged America's image. The author critically examines this point in chapter 3, where she highlights the story of Aertwentha Mae Faggs. Faggs presented Tennessee State University's famed Tigerbelles to the sports world. The Tigerbelles became internationally known for their superior athleticism in women's sports, and in 1952 Faggs won an Olympic gold medal, making her one of the first Tigerbelles to earn one. Like the Tigerettes, the athletic success and representation of the Tigerbelles provided the United States an opportunity to cast a picture of gender and racial equality on a global scale.Chapter 4 focuses on the notion of heteronormativity and its influence on Black women becoming symbols of American democracy. As such, the author states, “Heteronormativity and predominant blackness of American women's track and field meant that the squad assembled for the inaugural US-Soviet Union dual aligned with the American social order” (120). Chapter 5 then unpacks the story of Wilma Rudolph, who first appears in the introduction of the book. Through these two sections, the author creatively untangles Rudolph's story by examining the influences of the Cold War and the civil rights movement on the identity of elite Black women athletes.A highlight of chapter 5 is when Ariail discusses how Rudolph's image complicated the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. The author contends that Rudolph's beauty was aligned with America's obsession with light skin, straight hair, and femininity, which propelled her celebrity status and morphed American traditions into accepting Black women as fierce athletic competitors.The book ends by detailing how the enduring efforts of Black women competing in speed and strength sports opens doors for white female athletes. For example, through her image, Wilma Rudolph made elite athleticism obtainable for white female athletes who were shunned for participating in strength sports, which attacked the dominant white gender ideology.In conclusion, I highly recommend this book as it intermingles foreign politics, American values, and challenges experienced by Black women in track and field seeking to reach the epitome of athleticism.

Previous research conducted in the USA and Africa has identified human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection as a risk factor for women developing squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) diagnosis. This study was conducted to compare the odds of a diagnosis of atypical squamous cells (ASCUS) or SIL in a sample of mostly African-born and US-born women (n=275). A greater proportion of US-born women had an ASCUS (68.9%) or SIL (81.3%) diagnosis than African-born women (29.5% ASCUS, 15.6% SIL). After adjusting for age, smoking status, absolute CD4, and a prescription for HIV-antiviral medications, the US-born women had a greater odds of a SIL diagnosis than the African-born women (OR=0.22, 95% CI: 0.06–0.79); no significant differences in ASCUS remained after adjustment. In this sample, proportionately more African-American (55.3%) and white American (51.1%) women smoke tobacco than African-born women (1.9%), explaining, perhaps, some of the difference. We found that an absolute CD4 less than 200, when compared to an absolute CD4 above 500, was highly predictive of a SIL diagnosis (OR=6.31, 95% CI: 2.10–18.93, p-trend <0.01). A prescription for HIV-antiviral medications was not a significant predictor of an ASCUS or SIL diagnosis.

Black women are at high risk for obesity and obesity-related health problems (1). Nearly 50% of black women compared to 30% of white women are obese (2,3). While many women who attempt to lose weight do so through caloric restriction and/or physical activity, smoking has been identified as an alternate strategy used for weight loss among black women with weight concerns or body image concerns (4). Nicotine’s suppression of body weight facilitates initiation and maintenance of smoking among women (5–7). Despite the deadly health risks associated with tobacco use, 23.1% of women smoke (8). Female smokers are more likely to report smoking cigarettes to control weight (6,9) and less likely to quit smoking due to weight concern (10). Perkins

This study examined the sociodemographic factors associated with muscle-strengthening exercise (MSE) participation in a sample of Chinese school-aged children. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in March 2021, comprising 67,281 students from public schools in Shenzhen through a multistage sampling method. The survey collected data on MSE participation, sociodemographics, family and educational information, and other aspects. A three-level mixed multilevel effect model was performed to analyze the associations between the selected sociodemographic characteristics and MSE participation. Results were presented using odd ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). 38.6% of participants met the MSE guidelines. In models of adherence to MSE guidelines and MSE days, boys were more likely to participate in MSE (OR = 1.31, 95%CI: 1.27-1.36, p < 0.001) than girls. Compared to primary school students, junior middle school students (OR = 1.60, 95%CI: 1.47-1.74, p < 0.001) were more likely to participate in MSE, whereas high school students (OR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.51-0.73, p < 0.001) participated less frequently. Socioeconomic status (both OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1.01-1.13, p < 0.001) was positively associated with MSE participation. Participants who perceived their weight as "about the right weight" or "slightly overweight" were most likely to participate in MSE. Weight satisfaction was negatively associated with guideline adherence, with those "very dissatisfied" with their weight being more likely to adhere. Positive associations between sports club participation and sports equipment satisfaction with MSE participation were also found. Other factors, such as ethnicity and parental education level, showed no significant association. MSE participation is correlated by sociodemographic, behavioral, and self-perception factors, particularly sex, age, socioeconomic status, sports club involvement, and weight perception. Interventions to enhance MSE participation should target the important identified factors. Future studies should consider using longitudinal designs to strengthen understanding of MSE, further aiding in developing relevant and effective interventions.

Black women are more likely than White women to have obesity, and obesity is associated with worse breast cancer prognosis. Weight perception, however, has not been studied as a potential mediator of obesity disparities in women with breast cancer. In this study, we sought to describe racial differences and the association of lifestyle factors with weight perception. In this cross-sectional study design, Black and White women with a new primary breast cancer were surveyed about socio-demographics, weight perception, diet, and exercise habits.Height and weight were measured at enrollment.We classified women with a BMI ≥ 25kg/m2 or waist circumference ≥ 88cm who reported that they were "about the right weight" as under-perceivers. Chi-square and t tests were used to assess study variables (e.g., race, physical activity) associated with under-perception of weight.Logistic regression models were fit to evaluate for racial differences in under-perception while controlling for other covariates. Of 1,197women with newly diagnosed breast cancer, the average age was 58years, and 909 (75.9%) were White. Nine hundred eighteen (77%) had stage I cancer, 1,035 (87%) had estrogen receptor positive cancer, and 795 (66%) were privately insured at time of diagnosis. Seven hundred eighty-nine (66%) women had abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥ 88cm), while 366 (31%) women had a BMI ≥ 25kg/m2.Overall, 24% of women were under-perceivers.Compared to White women, Black women with WC ≥ 88cm more frequently under-perceived their weight (24% vs. 14% p < 0.0001) were more obese with BMI > 30kg/m2 (51% vs. 23%, p < 0.0001) and had lower physical activity (22% vs. 77%, p < 0.0001). After controlling for age, education, and stage, Black women remained more likely to under-perceive their weight relative to White women for those with BMI ≥ 25kg/m2 (OR: 2.64; 95% CI: 1.4-4.6) or waist circumference ≥ 88cm (OR: 2.89; 95% CI: 1.8-4.5). With respect to lifestyle factors, among women with BMI ≥ 25kg/m2, those who met physical activity guidelines were less likely to under-perceive their weight compared to those who did not meet physical activity guidelines (OR: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.2-0.6), regardless of race. We found racial differences in weight perception and identified social determinants and lifestyle factors such as lower education and physical inactivity that influenced under-perception of weight among newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Since obesity is associated with worse breast cancer outcomes, identifying optimal modifiable factors to intervene upon to support weight management among breast cancer survivors is clinically important. Breast cancer patients' perceptions about their weight provide insight that may inform lifestyle behavior interventions to reduce obesity during survivorship care.

Introduction: In memoriam: bell hooks, 1952–2021

This study aimed to explore the relationship between Black cultural identity body image and mental well-being among Black Americans and Black immigrant women who attend predominately white universities (PWIs). As part of the Multi-Site University Study of Identity and Culture (MUSIC) survey, participants completed the Brief Inventory of Body Image, which included questions such as “I’m proud of my body,” “I often feel ugly,” ‘I have a good figure,” “I’m ashamed of my body,” and “I am anxious about the way I look.” The results showed that there were several similarities between the subgroups in the correlations between body image and mental health indices, such as social anxiety, depression, psychological well-being, and self-esteem. Both Black American and Black immigrant college-aged women had a positive association between body image and indicators of Black women’s sense of self, like self-esteem and psychological well-being. They also had a negative association between body image and mental health, such as social anxiety and depression. However, there was one key difference in that Black American women had a stronger association between their sense of self and self-esteem and psychological well-being compared to Black immigrant women. These findings support other studies that suggest Black women tend to have a stronger positive body satisfaction relative to their overall mental well-being. The study has important implications for the understanding of Black women, ethnic identity, body image, and mental health, which are discussed in the paper.

Reviewed by: The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I by Lynn Dumenil Dorothea Browder The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I. By Lynn Dumenil. ( Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. xvi, 340. $39.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-3121-9.) Lynn Dumenil has written an indispensable study of U.S. women's experiences and efforts during World War I based on extensive secondary literature and primary sources. The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I covers political activism, home front mobilization, war service abroad, wage earners, and visual representations in popular culture. Skillfully interweaving social, political, and cultural histories, this study is likely to find a place on scholars' shelves and widespread use in their syllabi. Dumenil explores how the war and women activists shaped one another, arguing that the war both accelerated the development of the "new woman" of the 1910s and limited the extent of her liberation (p. 6). In an era when military service defined citizenship, activists invoked women's role as the "'second line of defense'" to support a range of goals (p. 1). The book explores the wartime experiences, activities, and rhetoric of activists and radical figures involved in movements for women's reform, racial justice, suffrage, labor, peace, child welfare, socialism, anarchism, civil defense, civil liberties, and more, along with government volunteers and bureaucrats, preparedness advocates, doctors and nurses, college students, social workers, war reporters, factory, clerical, railroad, and telephone workers, and movie stars, among others. The fascinating final chapter on visual representations concludes not only that "government propaganda portrayed white women's war contributions primarily as extensions of maternal and domestic duties" but also that popular culture as a whole, despite portrayals of ambitious, strong women, reflected the period's ambivalence (p. 254). It is an extraordinary accomplishment to be able to discuss all these subjects within the same book in a coherent and lively narrative. Dumenil explains that [End Page 500] middle-class and elite white women's groups "dominated the volunteer effort" and left the most extensive records, but she also focuses, to a lesser but substantial extent, on African American women's accomplishments (p. 59). The extraordinary level of detail and great number of groups discussed here justify this focus. Immigrant women and women of other ethnicities appear mostly as subjects for reform and occasionally in war work auxiliaries but rarely as political actors. Same-sex relationships are little covered, despite great shifts that were underway in that period. The book's coverage is impressive, though. A number of groups took advantage of wartime opportunities to advance prewar agendas, though their success was limited by male hostility, racist resistance, persistently gendered notions of citizenship, and reformers' own ambivalence about wage-earning women's physical abilities and family roles. Attuned to women's roles in the changing relationship between individual and state, the book includes not only white new women seeking rights and freedoms and black women seeking racial justice but also women participating in hypernationalism, vigilantism, and what historian Chris Capazzola has termed "the duty of hatred" (Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen [New York, 2007], 185). Information about such women is woven throughout several parts of the book and extends into the epilogue, forging links to the recent upsurge in scholarship on right-wing and white supremacist women in the Ku Klux Klan and other 1920s movements. The book's well-chosen illustrations include Half-Century Magazine's striking March 1917 cover of an elegant black woman draped in the American flag as Lady Liberty. The illustration's caption, "Maid in America," simultaneously drew attention to black women's occupational segregation even during a wartime labor crisis, defended their sexual virtue, and emphasized African Americans' citizenship. Black women led responses to racial violence and discrimination, lobbied for war work resources for black communities, publicized black women's economic contributions, and advanced civil rights arguments based on wartime service and democratic ideals. "Though black women hoped that war service might prove a path to equal citizenship," Dumenil observes, "they were repeatedly denied opportunities to demonstrate their patriotism...