African Background Research Articles

Access to Social Capital and Educational Returns for Children of Immigrants: Evidence from Three Swedish Studies

In this article, we study whether social capital contributes to ethnic inequality in education or whether there is evidence of counter-stratification. We use data from three surveys of Swedish ninth-graders in different contexts to fit regression models for access to social capital and educational returns. Our results show that students with parents from Asia or Southeast Europe had equal or better access to social capital, compared to children with at least one parent born in Sweden. Results for children with African background were mixed. Regarding educational outcomes, we found similar rates of returns from social capital across groups. Better access to social capital thus seems to buffer against disadvantages for some, but not all, groups.

Community Pharmacy-Based eGFR Screening for Early Detection of CKD in High Risk Patients.

Background:Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition presenting with long-term slow progression of structural and/or functional damage to the kidneys. Early detection is key to preventing complications and improving outcomes. Point-of-care estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) screening technology allows for detection of abnormal kidney function in the community pharmacy setting.Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of a community pharmacist-directed point-of-care screening program and to identify the prevalence of CKD in high-risk patients.Design:Quantitative observational.Setting:Four community pharmacies in British Columbia over a 6-month period.Patients:In all, 642 participants with at least one CKD risk factor were identified and screened. Mean age was 60 years and females accounted for 55% of the study population.Measurements:Serum creatinine was measured from peripheral blood using the HeathTab® screening system (Piccolo® Renal Function Panel with the Piccolo® blood chemistry analyzer). eGFR was calculated according to the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula.Methods:Patients provided a sample of peripheral blood via a self-administered finger-prick and analytical data to assess kidney function was reported including blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine, and electrolytes by the HealthTab® screening system. Once results were available, the pharmacist conducted a comprehensive medication review with the patient and recommended certain follow-up actions if appropriate.Results:CKD risk factor included diabetes (30%), hypertension (45%), cardiovascular disease (12%), family history of kidney disease (13%), age over 55 years (68%), and an Aboriginal, Asian, South Asian, or African ethnic background (82%). A total of 11.5% of patients had eGFR values lower than 60 mL/min (abnormal renal function) and 34% had an eGFR between 60 and 89 mL/min (minimally reduced renal function). Overall pharmacists’ actions included blood pressure check (98%), education on CKD and risk factors (89%), medication review (72%), and physician follow-up (38%). Limitations included lack of follow-up beyond the 3-month study period prevented medical confirmation of CKD and limited the ability to quantify the impact of pharmacist interventions on the clinical outcomes of patients with low eGFR.Conclusion:These results illustrate the prevalence of abnormal renal function among undiagnosed, high-risk patients in the community. Pharmacists, as the most accessible healthcare practitioners, are ideally positioned to utilize novel point-of care technologies to improve access to CKD screening, facilitate follow-up, and increase awareness around the importance of early detection.

Skeletal maturation in relation to ethnic background in children of school age: The Generation R Study.

Ethnicity is a well-established determinant of pediatric maturity, but the underlying genetic and environmental contributions to these ethnic differences are poorly comprehended. We aimed to evaluate the influence of ethnicity on skeletal age (SA), an assessment of pediatric maturation widely used in clinical settings. We included children from the Generation R Study, a multiethnic population-based pregnancy cohort, assessed at a mean age of 9.78 (±0.33) years. SA was evaluated by a trained observer on hand DXA scans using the Greulich and Pyle method. Ethnic background was defined as geographic ancestry (questionnaire-based assessment) (N=5325) and genetic ancestry (based on admixture analysis) (N=3413). Associations between the ethnic background and SA were investigated separately in boys and girls, using linear regression models adjusted for age, height and BMI. Based on geographic ancestry, 84% of the children were classified as European, 6% as Asian and 10% as African. Children of European background had on average younger SA than those of Asian or African descent. Asian boys had 0.46 (95% CI 0.26-0.66, p-value<0.0001) and African boys 0.36years (95% CI 0.20-0.53, p-value<0.0001) older SA as compared to European boys. Similarly, Asian girls showed 0.64 (95% CI 0.51-0.77, p-value<0.0001) and African girls 0.38years (95% CI 0.27-0.48, p-value<0.0001) older SA as compared to European girls. A similar pattern was observed in the analysis with genetically-defined ancestry. Furthermore, an increase in the proportion of Asian or African component was associated with older SA in both boys (log[Non-European/European]proportion=0.10, 95% CI 0.06-0.13, p-value<0.0001) and girls (log[Non-European/European]proportion=0.06, 95% CI 0.04-0.08, p-value<0.0001). In summary, children of Asian and African backgrounds have on average older SA as compared to children of European descent, partially explained by a genetic component.

The relationship between ingroup identity and Paranoid ideation among people from African and African Caribbean backgrounds.

People from ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of paranoid delusions compared with people from ethnic majority groups. Identifying with social groups has been shown to protect against mental health symptoms; however, no studies have investigated the relationship between social identification and paranoia in ethnic minority populations. Here, we investigated the association between British identification and paranoia in a sample of people from African and African Caribbean backgrounds living in the United Kingdom. We also assessed the role of potential mediating (self-esteem and locus of control) and moderating (contact with White British people) factors. Cross-sectional quantitative survey design. We recruited 335 people from African and African Caribbean backgrounds who completed online self-report measures of identification with Great Britain, self-esteem, locus of control, positive and negative contact with White British people, and paranoia. A parallel moderated mediation model indicated that British identification was associated with lower paranoia when participants experienced primarily positive contact with White British people. British identification was associated with higher paranoia when participants had primarily negative contact with White British people. Both effects were mediated by changes in locus of control, but self-esteem was not implicated in either pathway. Identification with the majority culture is associated both positively and negatively with paranoid beliefs depending on the types of social interactions people experience. The findings have implications for preventative social prescribing initiatives and for understanding the causes of the high rates of psychosis in ethnic minority populations. People from African and African Caribbean backgrounds experience high rates of paranoia, which may stem from social causes such as lack of belonging and negative social experiences. Among people from African backgrounds living in the UK, British identification is associated with lower paranoia when people's social experiences with White British people are positive and higher paranoia when their social experiences with White British people are negative. It is recommended that social interventions designed to reduce paranoia in vulnerable groups foster positive social contact and community belonging, which should enhance feelings of personal control. Understanding the complex interplay between social identity and social contact in the development of paranoia may help therapists and researchers better understand the phenomenology and risk factors of paranoid symptomology.

Making Sharing Work: Migrant Community Groups and Informal/Formal Work

Migrant and refugee communities are at the forefront of highly feminised and precarious community sector work. Facing insecure labour contracts and contingent, competitive funding for activities, these communities routinely move between paid and unpaid work. Drawing on multi-sited and participatory ethnographic research and 30 semi-structured interviews with women of different African backgrounds living and working in western Sydney, this article explores the relationship between collective sharing practices and life as precarious workers. The sharing of material resources, information and support takes place beyond designated ‘workplaces’ and on a continuum of activity that moves between the formal and informal, public and private, productive and socially reproductive. This article uses a practice-based approach to foreground the social world of working migrant women. In doing so, it sheds light on the hidden, precarious work of an increasingly marketised community sector and the everyday and emergent ways that marginalised communities respond to precarious work under neoliberalism.

A home to which I don’t belong: geopolitics, colonialism and whiteness in the experience of Middle Eastern and North African citizens in the United States

ABSTRACT Theories of assimilation are founded upon the assumption that through generations, immigrant communities will ‘progressively’ and ‘irreversibly’ proceed towards a white middle-class centre. In this article, I examine the explanatory sufficiency and precision of these assumptions by drawing on interviews with US citizens of Middle Eastern and North African background. My findings show that although people from the Middle East and North Africa – as a population that, based on US law, belongs to the ‘white’ racial category – may be assimilated in quantitative terms, they do not feel that they belong in the United States. This feeling of exclusion among members of an economically successful ‘white’ population not only casts doubt on the sufficiency of economic success and legal recognition for full integration but also shows how theories of assimilation have ignored perceived aspects of belonging. Approaching the topic from a decolonial perspective, and locating the experience of US citizens from the Middle East and North Africa within a global geopolitical frame, I contend that theories of assimilation have considered race and ethnicity as pre-existing independent variables rather than historically contingent categories impacted both by the historical construction of minority groups in the United States and by global geopolitics.

Ancestry-Dependent Enrichment of Deleterious Homozygotes in Runs of Homozygosity

Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are important genomic features that manifest when an individual inherits two haplotypes that are identical by descent. Their length distributions are informative about population history, and their genomic locations are useful for mapping recessive loci contributing to both Mendelian and complex disease risk. We have previously shown that ROH, and especially long ROH that are likely the result of recent parental relatedness, are enriched for homozygous deleterious coding variation in a worldwide sample of outbred individuals. However, the distribution of ROH in admixed populations and their relationship to deleterious homozygous genotypes is understudied. Here we analyze whole-genome sequencing data from 1,441 unrelated individuals from self-identified African American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican American populations. These populations are three-way admixed between European, African, and Native American ancestries and provide an opportunity to study the distribution of deleterious alleles partitioned by local ancestry and ROH. We re-capitulate previous findings that long ROH are enriched for deleterious variation genome-wide. We then partition by local ancestry and show that deleterious homozygotes arise at a higher rate when ROH overlap African ancestry segments than when they overlap European or Native American ancestry segments of the genome. These results suggest that, while ROH on any haplotype background are associated with an inflation of deleterious homozygous variation, African haplotype backgrounds may play a particularly important role in the genetic architecture of complex diseases for admixed individuals, highlighting the need for further study of these populations.

Demographic and Pharmaceutical Predictors of Unfavorable Prostate Cancer

Both prospective and retrospective series have explored risk factors for developing aggressive prostate cancer. Predictors of higher grade disease include 5-alpha reductase inhibitor use, older age, and African American background. There is a paucity of literature that has applied similar risk factors to the current model of unfavorable intermediate and high risk disease. This study reports demographic and pharmacologic predictors of being treated for unfavorable intermediate and high risk prostate cancer at a busy academic center. A total of 3445 patients were treated for prostate cancer where baseline demographics, pharmacologic history, and clinicopathologic features were available. The mean age was 67.8 years (41, 93) with a mean PSA of 9.23ng/ml (0.3, 205). 34.2%, 31.7%, 19.1%, and 15.0% of patients were diagnosed with Gleason 6 (3+3), Gleason 7 (3+4), Gleason 7 (4+3), and Gleason 8-10 prostate cancer. The Zumsteg Classification System was applied to categorize patients into low (28.6%), favorable intermediate (22.6%), unfavorable intermediate (30.8%), and high risk (18.0%) disease groups. Unfavorable Prostate Cancer (UPC) was defined as being diagnosed with unfavorable intermediate or high risk disease (48.8%). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to determine those factors that portended for UPC. 64.5% of patients taking 5-alpha reductase medication were diagnosed with UPC, compared to 53.6% of those who did not take this class of medication (p<.0001). This finding was also seen in men who took metformin compared to those who did not (62.4% vs. 53.4%, p<.0001). Men older than age 65 had a higher risk of presenting with UPC compared to younger men (47.8% vs. 34.6%, p<.0001), as did those with a first degree relative who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer (52% vs. 48.1%, p<.0001). Asian men had a higher risk of aggressive disease than men who self-identified as white or African American (72.4% vs. 51.2% and 52.3%, respectively, p<.0001). Men with a comorbidity of HIV were also more likely to exhibit UPC (68.8% vs. 54.4%, p<.0001). On multivariate analysis, older age (OR 2.021, CI 1.735-2.354, p<.0001), the use of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (OR 2.508, CI 1.228-5.122, p=.012) or metformin (OR 1.334, CI 1.033-1.722, p=.037), and Asian American background (OR 2.481, CI 1.001-6.146, p=.05) predicted for being treated for UPC. In a large hospital series, nearly half of those treated for prostate cancer were diagnosed with UPC. Consistent with previous phase 3 data correlated with higher grade disease, 5-alpha reductase inhibitor use was associated with UPC in this cohort. In keeping with retrospective published series, older men had a higher risk of being treated with more aggressive disease. While prostate cancer is less common in Asian Americans and metformin’s role in prostate cancer therapeutics remains investigational, diagnosis with either classification was associated with UPC in this series.

Genetic comparison of sickle cell anaemia cohorts from Brazil and\xa0the United States reveals high levels of divergence

Genetic analysis of admixed populations raises special concerns with regard to study design and data processing, particularly to avoid population stratification biases. The point mutation responsible for sickle cell anaemia codes for a variant hemoglobin, sickle hemoglobin or HbS, whose presence drives the pathophysiology of disease. Here we propose to explore ancestry and population structure in a genome-wide study with particular emphasis on chromosome 11 in two SCA admixed cohorts obtained from urban populations of Brazil (Pernambuco and São Paulo) and the United States (Pennsylvania). Ancestry inference showed different proportions of European, African and American backgrounds in the composition of our samples. Brazilians were more admixed, had a lower African background (43% vs. 78% on the genomic level and 44% vs. 76% on chromosome 11) and presented a signature of positive selection and Iberian introgression in the HbS region, driving a high differentiation of this locus between the two cohorts. The genetic structures of the SCA cohorts from Brazil and US differ considerably on the genome-wide, chromosome 11 and HbS mutation locus levels.

Genetic variants of TORC1 signaling pathway affect nitrogen consumption in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentation.

In the alcoholic fermentation process, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains present differences in their nitrogen consumption profiles, these phenotypic outcomes have complex genetic and molecular architectures. In this sense, variations in nitrogen signaling pathways regulated by TORC1 represent one of the main sources of phenotypic diversity in nitrogen consumption. This emphasizes the possible roles that allelic variants from the TORC1 pathway have in the nitrogen consumption differences observed in yeast during the alcoholic fermentation. Here, we studied the allelic diversity in the TORC1 pathway across four yeast strains and determined how these polymorphisms directly impact nitrogen consumption during alcoholic fermentation. Using a reciprocal hemizygosity approach combined with phenotyping under fermentative conditions, we found that allelic variants of GTR1, TOR2, SIT4, SAP185, EAP1, NPR1 and SCH9 underlie differences in the ammonium and amino acids consumption phenotypes. Among these, GTR1 alleles from the Wine/European and West African genetic backgrounds showed the greatest effects on ammonium and amino acid consumption, respectively. Furthermore, we identified allelic variants of SAP185, TOR2, SCH9 and NPR1 from an oak isolate that increased the amino acid consumption preference over ammonium; representing putative candidates coming from a non-domesticated strain that could be used for genetic improvement programs. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that a large number of allelic variants within the TORC1 pathway significantly impacts on regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen assimilation during alcoholic fermentation.

African Immigrants to Australia: Barriers and Challenges to Labor Market Success

The purpose of this paper is to examine the employment experiences of immigrants of African background in the Australian labor market. Drawing on the findings from a qualitative study conducted in South East Queensland, the paper identifies several barriers and challenges faced by Africans to meaningful employment and labor market success. The paper indicates the need to develop targeted policies to eliminate employment discrimination, reduce barriers to meaningful employment for good settlement and successful integration of African immigrants to Australia.

Gut microbiota composition explains more variance in the host cardiometabolic risk than genetic ancestry

ABSTRACTCardiometabolic affections greatly contribute to the global burden of disease. The susceptibility to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type-2 diabetes, conditions that add to the cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS), was associated with the ancestral genetic composition and gut microbiota. Studies explicitly testing associations between genetic ancestry and gut microbes are growing. We here examined whether the host genetic ancestry was associated with gut microbiota composition, and distinguished the effects of genetic ancestry and non-genetic factors on human cardiometabolic health. We performed a cross-sectional study with 441 community-dwelling Colombian mestizos from five cities spanning the Andes, Pacific, and Caribbean coasts. We characterized the host genetic ancestry by genotyping 40 ancestry informative markers; characterized gut microbiota through 16S rRNA gene sequencing; assessed diet intake, physical activity, cigarette, and medicament consumption; and measured cardiometabolic outcomes that allowed calculating a CMS risk scale. On average, each individual of our cohort was 67 ± 6% European, 21 ± 5% Native American and 12 ± 5% African. Multivariable-adjusted generalized linear models showed that individuals with higher Native American and African ancestries had increased fasting insulin, body mass index and CMS risk, as assessed by the CMS risk scale. Furthermore, we identified 21 OTUs associated to the host genetic ancestry and 20 to cardiometabolic health. While we highlight novel associations between genetic ancestry and gut microbiota, we found that the effect of intestinal microbes was more likely to explain the variance in CMS risk scale than the contributions of European, Native American and African genetic backgrounds.

Barriers and facilitators of physical activity among adults and older adults from Black and Minority Ethnic groups in the UK: A systematic review of qualitative studies.

Older adults from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups experience a relatively higher burden of physical inactivity compared with their counterparts from non-BME groups. Despite the increasing number of qualitative studies investigating the barriers and facilitators of physical activity among older adults from BME backgrounds in the UK, there is very limited review-level evidence. The aim of this review is to undertake a synthesis of existing qualitative studies, using a meta-ethnographic approach, to explore the barriers and opportunities for physical activity among adults and older adults from BME communities in the UK.Studies conducted between January 2007 and July 2017 were eligible if they met the following criteria: employed any qualitative method; included participants identified as being BME, aged 50 and above, and living in the UK. In total, 1036 studies were identified from a structured search of six electronic databases combined with hand searching of reference bibliographies. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria for the review and were included.Six key themes emerged from the data: awareness of the links between physical activity and health, interaction and engagement with health professionals, cultural expectations and social responsibilities, suitable environment for physical activity, religious fatalism and practical challenges. There was a substantial gap in research among Black African groups.Interventions aimed at improving physical activity participation among older adults should be acceptable and accessible to minority groups. Further research is needed to investigate the barriers and facilitators of physical activity among older adults from African backgrounds.

Caregivers of North African origin faced with Islamist radicalisation

Supporting teenagers in search of ideality sometimes requires accepting and understanding the movements present in the process of Islamist radicalisation. It is therefore necessary to understand the implicit dimension to this notion of radicalisation and what it arouses in each of us. For caregivers with a North African immigrant background, it is a question of implementing their countertransference in order to guarantee unconditional acceptance, and to establish a bond to deliver better care.

Experiences of vulnerability and sources of resilience among immigrants and refugees

This article considers the nature of, and factors contributing to, experiences of vulnerability. It also explores some aspects of resilience among immigrants and refugees of black African background in South East Queensland, Australia. The findings indicate that an understanding of what influences immigrants and refugees to engage in activities to mitigate vulnerability can inform the development and implementation of targeted policies, including programs and interventions for successful settlement and integration.

The Role of Spirituality in Promoting Sense of Place Among Foreigners of African Background in the Netherlands

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between negative place experiences (involving racial discrimination, place insecurity, and feeling of anxiety about the future in a place) and sens...

The African background of Pentecostal theology: A critical perspective

African Traditional Religion (ATR) represents a primal worldview that encapsulates a certain culturally-innate sense of the world of transcendence and involves belief in a sacramental ‘enchanted’ universe in which the physical is indicative of spiritual realities, in contrast to western Christianity, that to a certain extent abandoned belief in malevolent powers. The assumption is that Africans live in an ‘intentional world’ where nothing happens by chance; all events have spiritual causes. Negative events can be resisted by imprecatory prayers and curses. Sacred and secular realities are inseparable. For this reason, it is argued that pneumatic Christianity is close to the grain of African culture and its worldview resonates with the indigenous worldview. In this article, the African background of Pentecostal theology is investigated. By operating within a worldview that allows ample space for the invisible world determining what happens in the visible world, African Pentecostalism was endeared to Africans. For Africans, what happens on earth is directly interrelated with what happens in the dimension of the spiritual, agreeing with the cosmic principalities and powers that provide the mystical causality of a worldview found in the New Testament. The African Pentecostal narrative is concerned with the solution of personal and societal problems that is interpreted in terms of the African view of rulers, authorities, evil powers, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces in the heavenly realm that focuses on how the spirit world impinges on the visible world to hinder or foster human flourishing. Pentecostalism’s pneumatic spirituality is discussed from a critical theological perspective.

Childrearing Practices Among Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Australia: a Systematic Review

Australian Child Protection practitioners who work with children from sub-Saharan African migrant backgrounds often face challenges when applying child protection laws and policies to address childrearing and parenting issues. The aim of this study is to examine the influence of cultural beliefs, values, attitudes and practices on childrearing practices within sub-Saharan African communities. The systematic review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Databases searched included Science Direct, ProQuest Central, Embase, EbescoHOST (Medline; PsychINFO; CINAHL; ERIC; SocINDEX; PsycARTICLES), Web of Science (SCI-EXPANDED; SSCI) and Google Scholar; the search dates were from January 2000 to December 2016. The studies were assessed using the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology guidelines (STROBE). The search strategy identified 2631 articles, of which 57 met the inclusion criteria for the review. Participants were children aged from three months old to seventeen years and adults aged eighteen years or older. Data analysis resulted in 7 primary themes: Illness Conception, Traditional Beliefs and Health-seeking Behaviour; Fosterage and Community Responsibility; Family Dynamics; Discipline; Child Spirits and the Supernatural; Body Stimulation; and Female Genital Mutilation. Framed within the acculturation theory, the review identifies important factors that converge to provide insight into the specific caregiving context of sub-Saharan African families. It further makes clear that, for the most part, the childrearing practices of sub-Saharan African migrants who settle in Australia are influenced by their cultural values and norms.

Association of hemoglobin A1C with circulating metabolites in Dutch with European, African Surinamese and Ghanaian background

BackgroundThe prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) varies significantly across ethnic groups. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the variation in different ethnic groups may help to elucidate the pathophysiology of T2DM. The present work aims to generate a hypothesis regarding “why do subjects with African background have excess burden of T2DM?”.MethodsIn the current study, we performed metabolite profiling of plasma samples derived from 773 subjects of three ethnic groups (Dutch with European, Ghanaian and African Surinamese background). We performed Bayesian lognormal regression analyses to assess associations between HbA1c and circulating metabolites.ResultsHere we show that subjects with African Surinamese and Ghanaian background had similar associations of HbA1c with circulating amino acids and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins as subjects with European background. In contrast, subjects with Ghanaian and African Surinamese background had different associations of HbA1c with acetoacetate, small LDL particle and small HDL particle concentrations, compared to the subjects with European background.ConclusionsOn the basis of the observations, we hypothesize that the excess burden of T2DM in subjects with African background may be due to impaired cholesterol efflux capacity or abnormal cholesterol uptake.

Abstract P109: Genetic Correlates of Resilience Among African American Families From the Jackson Heart Study

Background: Research has reported that measures of resilience, such as optimism, social support, and religious coping are positively associated with longevity, but there are limited studies on the genetic contribution of resilience among African Americans. Utilizing Jackson Heart Study (JHS) data, we examined the heritability estimates of markers of resilience and their association with proportion of West African genetic ancestry (pAfr) in order to understand familial patterns of resilience among African Americans. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that genetic variation would contribute significantly to variation in indicators of resilience, and that pAfr will be positively associated with greater resilience in African Americans. Methods: Resilience measures (optimism, social support, social networks, religious experiences, and religious practices and coping) were obtained from validated questionnaires. Scores were created for each resilience measure and then all measures were summed to create a total resilience score among 1,200 related and 1,456 unrelated individuals of the JHS cohort. We then analyzed the subset of related individuals to estimate polygenic heritability for resilience measures using Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines (SOLAR), and evaluated the subset of unrelated participants for the association between resilience and pAfr using a multiple linear regression model. The pAfr was estimated from more than 1,400 ancestry informative markers that differentiate West African genetic ancestry from European ancestry using HAPMIX genetic software. In both analyses, we controlled for age, sex, age-by-sex interaction, education, physical activity, smoking and depressive symptoms. Results: In related individuals, we found a significant proportion of variation (h 2 ±SE; p-value) due to familial correlation on religious practices and coping (0.15±0.09; p=0.0371); religious experience (0.26±0.09; p&lt;0.001); social networks (0.32±0.07; p&lt;0.001); and optimism (0.21±0.08; p&lt;0.001). Heritability estimates for total resilience and social support were not significant. In the subset of unrelated individuals, we found that pAfr was significantly associated (beta±SE; p-value) with total resilience (3.08±1.44; p=0.0327), religious experience (5.16±2.55; p=0.0437), and religious practices and coping (3.77±1.23; p=0.0023) in men but not in women. Conclusion: In this sample of African Americans, we found evidence that variation in markers of resilience are influenced by genetic ancestry and sex. West African genetic background was associated with markers of resilience in men only. Due to lack of household effects we could not account for influence of the common environment, which is a limitation of these findings. However, because we found genetic influences of resilience, future studies that explore associations with longevity loci are warranted.