Consequences Of Disparities Research Articles

The Effectiveness of a School-Based Intervention for Adolescents in Reducing Disparities in the Negative Consequences of Substance Use Among Ethnic Groups.

Ethnic minority youth are disproportionately affected by substance use-related consequences, which may be best understood through a social ecological lens. Differences in psychosocial consequences between ethnic majority and minority groups are likely due to underlying social and environmental factors. The current longitudinal study examined the outcomes of a school-based motivational enhancement treatment intervention in reducing disparities in substance use consequences experienced by some ethnic minority groups with both between and within-subjects differences. Students were referred to the intervention through school personnel and participated in a four-session intervention targeting alcohol and drug use. Participants included 122 youth aged 13-19years. Participants were grouped by ethnicity and likelihood of disparate negative consequences of substance use. African American/Hispanic/Multiethnic youth formed one group, and youth identifying as White or Asian formed a second group. We hypothesized that (1) there would be significant disparities in psychosocial, serious problem behavior, and school-based consequences of substance use between White/Asian students compared to African American/Hispanic/Multiethnic students at baseline; (2) physical dependence consequences would not be disparate at baseline; and (3) overall disparities would be reduced at post-treatment follow-up. Results indicated that African American/Hispanic/Multiethnic adolescents demonstrated statistically significant disparate consequences at baseline, except for physical dependency consequences. Lastly, significant reductions in disparities were evidenced between groups over time. Our findings highlight the efficacy of utilizing school-based substance use interventions in decreasing ethnic health disparities in substance use consequences.

How group processes influence, maintain, and overcome health disparities.

This special issue of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations presents new theory and research on how group processes influence, maintain, and overcome health disparities. We present eight papers that document the causes and consequences of health disparities from the perspective of stigmatized and disadvantaged groups, health care providers, and during the course of interaction between patients and providers. Several papers describe interventions and other factors that have the potential to reduce differences in health and well-being. We hope the research in this collection inspires more investigators to consider how their work on group processes and intergroup relations can address, and help to eliminate, disparities in health outcomes for the disadvantaged.

Inequality in the “Cradle of Liberty”: Race/Ethnicity and Wealth in Greater Boston

New data collected for the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area provide detailed information on financial assets that allow analysis to extend beyond the traditional black–white divide. Targeting US-born blacks, Caribbean blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other Hispanics, findings from the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color survey underscore the large racial and ethnic disparities in financial wealth, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic status. Further, some notable differences between Boston’s communities of color highlight the importance of detailed analyses for research on the racial wealth gap. In particular, among non-white communities Dominicans report comparatively low asset and high debt amounts, while Caribbean blacks report relatively higher levels of wealth. Altogether, these findings point to the need for wealth building opportunities in communities of color and further investigation of the causes and consequences of financial disparities between groups of color disaggregated by specific ancestral origin.

Cryptic Species or Inadequate Taxonomy? Implementation of 2D Geometric Morphometrics Based on Integumental Organs as Landmarks for Delimitation and Description of Copepod Taxa

Discovery of cryptic species using molecular tools has become common in many animal groups but it is rarely accompanied by morphological revision, creating ongoing problems in taxonomy and conservation. In copepods, cryptic species have been discovered in most groups where fast-evolving molecular markers were employed. In this study at Yeelirrie in Western Australia we investigate a subterranean species complex belonging to the harpacticoid genus Schizopera Sars, 1905, using both the barcoding mitochondrial COI gene and landmark-based two-dimensional geometric morphometrics. Integumental organs (sensilla and pores) are used as landmarks for the first time in any crustacean group. Complete congruence between DNA-based species delimitation and relative position of integumental organs in two independent morphological structures suggests the existence of three distinct evolutionary units. We describe two of them as new species, employing a condensed taxonomic format appropriate for cryptic species. We argue that many supposedly cryptic species might not be cryptic if researchers focus on analyzing morphological structures with multivariate tools that explicitly take into account geometry of the phenotype. A perceived supremacy of molecular methods in detecting cryptic species is in our view a consequence of disparity of investment and unexploited recent advancements in morphometrics among taxonomists. Our study shows that morphometric data alone could be used to find diagnostic morphological traits and gives hope to anyone studying small animals with a hard integument or shell, especially opening the door to assessing fossil diversity and rich museum collections. We expect that simultaneous use of molecular tools with geometry-oriented morphometrics may yield faster formal description of species. Decrypted species in this study are a good example for urgency of formal descriptions, as they display short-range endemism in small groundwater calcrete aquifers in a paleochannel, where their conservation may be threatened by proposed mining.

Pharmacologic Management of Advanced Cervical Cancer: Antiangiogenesis Therapy and Immunotherapeutic Considerations

As a consequence of disparities in access to and utilization of preventative healthcare, the incidence and death rates from cervical cancer remain substantial in the face of indisputable evidence that screening saves lives. While disparities persist, there will be an urgent need for research into the treatment of advanced forms of this disease. In this review, we explore the evolution of the treatment of metastatic, recurrent, and persistent cervical cancer from cytotoxic agents to targeted therapy. We discuss why targeted therapies are unlikely to produce sustained responses alone but may be more successful in combination with immunotherapies. We also provide a rationale for the potential next phase in treatment of this challenging disease-combined therapy with antiangiogenic agents and immune checkpoint inhibitors. In doing so, we highlight recent paradigm shifts within cancer therapeutics, including the shift in focus from the tumor cell itself to the tumor microenvironment, and from stimulating the immune system to inhibiting the inhibitors of an adequate immune response.

Ongoing Consequences of Disparities in Breast Cancer Surgery.

Ongoing Consequences of Disparities in Breast Cancer Surgery.

De la grossdisparity a la unfairexploitation: modelos para una futura regulación en supuestos de desequilibrio económico contractual

European Contractual Law has come up with some new legal concepts of avoiding contracts that involve a great disparity between the obligations. New remedies are called gross disparity, unfair advantage or unfair exploitation, and they refuse to uphold contracts that appear to be the result of some bargaining weakness on one side and conscious advantage-taking on the other, and they allow avoiding this kind of legal acts.The majority of the European civil codes give the possibility of avoiding a contract as a consequence of an unfair exploitation or gross disparity. Some Codes put more emphasis on the personal situation of the weakness party and others on the damages arising from the unduly onerous or unfair contracts. The new Proposal of Modernization of the Spanish Civil Code on the contractual fields, by regulating the unfair advantage concept, has followed the new European contractual Law, sidelining the current Spanish Law.

The Consequences of Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in the Distribution of Air Pollution around Public Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Background and Objectives: This study seeks to understand the distribution of air pollution from industrial and mobile sources around public schools in the Great Lakes Region of the U.S., whether racial and socioeconomic disparities in such distribution exist, and whether these burdens are linked with student performance and health. Methods: We expand on an earlier study examining air pollution burdens around public schools in Michigan to other states in the Great Lakes Region, including Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Geographic information systems (GIS) were used to link school, census, and air pollution estimates from the 2006 TRI and the 2005 National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). Statistical analyses were used to examine racial and socioeconomic disparities in the distribution of pollution burdens around public schools in these six Great Lakes states and whether such burdens are related to student performance and health. Results: Racial and socioeconomic disparities at the school- and neighborhood-levels exist in the distribution of air toxics generated from industrial and mobile sources. Furthermore, air toxic burdens are associated with poor academic performance. These patterns were found even when controlling for important confounders such as attendance rates, student-teacher ratios, expenditures per pupil, socioeconomic status, and other factors. Conclusion: That our initial findings in Michigan are generalizable to the Great Lakes Region suggests that the problem of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the distribution of environmental burdens around public schools is wide-spread and needs greater attention than previously received. The extent, causes, and consequences of these disparities need to be better understood. School siting policies also need to be analyzed for their effectiveness in avoiding environmental burdens on the school-aged population.

Differentiation in the Trochulus hispidus complex and related taxa (Pulmonata: Hygromiidae): morphology, ecology and their relation to phylogeography.

In this study we investigated the morphology and ecology of representatives of the taxonomically ambiguous genus Trochulus. The main focus was on the T. hispidus complex, which comprises several genetically highly divergent mitochondrial clades, as determined in a parallel molecular genetic study. We analysed shell morphology and anatomical traits and asked whether the clades are differentiated in these characters. In addition, the related species T. oreinos and T. striolatus were investigated and compared with the T. hispidus complex. Finally, we compared the ecological requirements of the taxa. Among the genetic clades of the T. hispidus complex there was no clear morphological differentiation and geographic populations could not be distinguished based on their morphology. The investigated characters of the genital anatomy did not allow discrimination of any of the T. hispidus clades and were not even diagnostic for the group as a whole. The morphotype of T. sericeus is present in all clades and thus cannot be assigned to a genetic group or any specific population. Thus, our morphological data do not provide evidence that any of the mitochondrial T. hispidus clades represent separate species. Concerning interspecific delimitation, the T. hispidus complex was clearly differentiated from T. striolatus and T. oreinos by shell morphological and anatomical characters, e.g. sculpture of shell surface and details of the penis. Finally, the habitat of T. oreinos is different from those of the other two species. In contrast to the lack of correspondence between genetic and morphological differentiation within the T. hispidus complex, related species display intraspecific morphological differentiation corresponding with mitochondrial clades: within T. striolatus there was a slight morphological differentiation between the subspecies T. s. striolatus, T. s. juvavensis and T. s. danubialis. The two subspecies of T. oreinos could be discriminated by a small but consistent difference in the cross-section of the penis. The unequal levels of intraspecific differentiation are caused by different evolutionary histories as a consequence of disparities in ecological demands, dispersal ability and use of glacial refugia: both the T. hispidus complex and T. striolatus are fast-spreading, euryoecious organisms which are able to (re-)colonize habitats and survive under different climate conditions. While the T. hispidus complex probably survived the Pleistocene in several glacial refugia, for T. striolatus one glacial refugium is suggested. Trochulus oreinos differs from the other taxa, as it is a slow disperser with a narrow ecological niche. We suggest that its subspecies spent at least the last glaciation in or close to the presently inhabited areas.

The equity imperative in tertiary education: Promoting fairness and efficiency

While the share of the tertiary education age cohort (19–25) which is being given the opportunity to study has increased worldwide over the past two decades, this does not in fact translate into reduced inequality. For many young people, especially in the developing world, major obstacles such as disparities in terms of gender, minority population membership or disabilities as well as academic and financial barriers are still standing in their way. The authors of this article propose a conceptual framework to analyse equity issues in tertiary education and document the scope, significance and consequences of disparities in tertiary education opportunities. They throw some light on the main determinants of these inequalities and offer suggestions about effective equity promotion policies directed towards widening participation and improving the chances of success of underprivileged youths in order to create societies which uphold humanistic values.

Moderating Effects of Familiarity and Experience in the Relationships of Trust with Its Antecedents and Consequences

The fall in citizens’ trust in public institutions is one of the biggest challenges they face since it has effects on a wide range of variables (commitment, loyalty, etc.). Amid these variables there is one whose relevance in the literature has increased recently, namely the user’s intention to continue to use the services provided. Among the formulae put forward to set this right is the role played by transparency yet, although initially it was considered that simply rolling out transparency programmes would lead to the intended outcome, subsequently several works established the non-existence of this relationship or even a decrease in citizens’ trust. One possible explanation for such disparate consequences could be the way in which familiarity or experience affects trust-generating processes. Consequently this research seeks to analyse the impact that familiarity or user experience has on the relationship between transparency, satisfaction, and trust and between this and continuance intention for the case of the UNED, the largest public university institution in Spain.

Measuring disparities in sanitation access: does the measure matter?

Initiatives to monitor progress in health interventions like sanitation are increasingly focused on disparities in access. We explored three methodological challenges to monitoring changes in sanitation coverage across socio-economic and demographic determinants: (i) confounding by wealth indices including water and sanitation assets, (ii) use of individual urban and rural settings versus national wealth indices and (iii) child-level versus household-level analyses. Sanitation coverage by wealth for children and households across settings was estimated from recent Demographic and Health Surveys in six low-income countries. Household assignment to wealth quintiles was based on principal components analyses of assets. Concordance in household quintile assignment and estimated distribution of improved sanitation was assessed using two wealth indices differing by inclusion or exclusion of water and sanitation assets and independently derived for each setting. Improved sanitation was estimated using under five children and households. Wealth indices estimated with water, and sanitation assets are highly correlated with indices excluding them but can overstate disparities in sanitation access. Independently, derived setting wealth indices highly correlate with setting estimates of coverage using a single national index. Sanitation coverage and quintile disparities were consistently lower in household-level estimates. Standard asset indices provide a reasonably robust measure of disparities in improved sanitation, although overestimation is possible. Separate setting wealth quintiles reveal important disparities in urban areas, but analysis of setting quintiles using a national index is sufficient. Estimates and disparities in household-level coverage of improved sanitation can underestimate coverage for children under five.

Commentary: Neurocognitive consequences of socioeconomic disparities

Commentary: Neurocognitive consequences of socioeconomic disparities

Neurocognitive consequences of socioeconomic disparities: the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and public health

Neurocognitive consequences of socioeconomic disparities: the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and public health

Fear, crime, and space: The case of Viçosa, Brazil

Crime is both a factual and perceptual component of the urban landscape, seemingly both a societal pathology and the consequence of economic disparity between social groups. Crime has a spatial structure that can be revealed by mapping. Urban crime has a spatial multiplier effect that changes the values and perceptions of how people see urban space, and which jeopardizes the quality of life of a city's inhabitants. In this research we examine the question of whether the geography of actual criminal acts is echoed by peoples' perceptions of crime, what might be termed their “spaces of fear”. We ask how the fear of crime is associated with reported urban crime. Urban crime incidents have been increasing in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We assembled crime information about Viçosa from two sources: first, crime as reported to the police and second, crime as perceived by city residents and measured by surveys and interviews. Reported criminal acts reveal a clustered geography, focusing particularly on the Downtown area, where there is a concentration of urban wealth and potential victims are more numerous. Offenses against property were focused on Downtown, while offenses against the person were located mostly in peripheral areas. The widespread feeling of insecurity in the city's neighborhoods, reflecting the fear of becoming a victim of violence and crime, was common throughout the city. Results confirmed the conclusion of past studies showing that the fear of violence and crime are not directly related to increasing numbers of criminal reports. Sites with higher incidence of crimes are not places with higher levels of fear. Rather than being geographically explainable “spaces of fear”, the spatial distribution of the fear of violence and crime appears to be unrelated in Viçosa, and neither is clustered or dispersed in any measurable way.

Effects of mating and oviposition delay on parasitism rate and sex allocation behaviour of Diaeretiella rapae (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae)

Mating and oviposition complement each other in parasitoid reproduction; delay in either of these activities has disparate consequences for the fitness of the parasitoid. We investigated the effects of mating and oviposition delay on parasitism rate and progeny sex ratio in a parasitic wasp Diaeretiella rapae. Egg dynamics in the ovaries of females of different ages, and females which completed different numbers of oviposition bouts were also examined. Delay in mating and oviposition adversely affected reproductive performance of both male and female D. rapae. Delayed oviposition resulted in reduced parasitism rates in both mated and unmated females. The progeny sex ratio was female-biased, but the proportion of female offspring decreased towards the end of D. rapae life. Although females emerged with developed eggs, the egg load in the ovaries of unmated and naïve females initially increased then continuously decreased with age, suggesting partial resorption of eggs towards the end of a females life. Oviposition rate of unmated females was low before mating. The extent of mating delay experienced by females affected the sex ratio of their progeny, causing overproduction of males. Delayed mating did not affect the courting capacity of males, but reduced the number of their offspring and proportion of female offspring. The duration of copulation was longer in older males. The results of this study clearly indicate the importance of parasitoid age in biological control programmes, and suggests the use of 1–2days old D. rapae for best results.

Economic inequality, status perceptions, and subjective well-being in China's transitional economy

Situated in the dynamic institutional environment of China's transitional economy, this study investigates the intricate relationships among economic inequality, status perceptions, and subjective well-being. Empirical evidence is drawn from national survey data collected from urban China. Statistical analyses show that multiple indicators of economic well-being exert a significant effect on self-perceived social status and status change and on subjective well-being. Positive status perceptions further enhance one's subjective well-being. Some of these effects are also moderated by contextual inequality. This study advances the literature by moving beyond income-based measures to examine the consequences of economic disparity. It also shows that status perceptions are the key nexus to probe the impacts of economic well-being and the sources of life satisfaction. Findings further direct our attention to important interplays between the individual-level socioeconomic conditions and the contextual inequality in achieving a deeper understanding of the consequences of socioeconomic inequality.

Metropolitan growth and community disparities: Insights from the state of New Jersey in the US

An increasing concern among regional growth policymakers who aim to promote balanced growth is the widening economic disparity among the communities in metropolitan areas. But the causes and consequences of such disparities have not been fully addressed in planning and public policy literature. Using the longitudinal data (1970–2009) for 566 municipalities in the State of New Jersey in US, this study shows that overall metropolitan economic disparity is attributable to interjurisdictional economic disparity. The inter-jurisdictional economic disparity arises from the disproportionate distribution of human capital and minority populations across municipalities. Our study also confirms that housing market constraints, municipal taxes, and public expenditures play a significant role in inter-jurisdictional economic disparity and polarization. Since narrowing interjurisdictional disparity is imperative for community stability and regional economic competitiveness, we discuss the policy implications for reducing inter-jurisdictional disparity within metropolitan areas.

Disparate consequences of heat stress exposure during meiotic maturation: embryo development after chemical activation vs fertilization of bovine oocytes

Consequences of heat stress exposure during the first 12 h of meiotic maturation differed depending on how and when bovine oocytes were activated. If heat-stressed oocytes underwent IVF at ~24 h, blastocyst development was less than for respective controls and similar to that obtained for nonheat-stressed oocytes undergoing IVF at 30 h (i.e. slightly aged). In contrast, if heat-stressed oocytes underwent chemical activation with ionomycin/6-dimethylaminopurine at 24 h, blastocyst development was not only higher than respective controls, but also equivalent to development obtained after activation of nonheat-stressed oocytes at 30 h. Developmental differences in chemically activated vs IVF-derived embryos were not related to fertilization failure or gross alterations in cytoskeletal components. Rather, ionomycin-induced calcium release and MAP kinase activity were less in heat-stressed oocytes. While underlying mechanisms are multifactorial, ability to obtain equivalent or higher development after parthenogenetic activation demonstrates that oocytes experiencing heat stress during the first 12 h of meiotic maturation have the necessary components to develop to the blastocyst stage, but fail to do so after fertilization.

Risk Assessment Tools and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System

AbstractThis paper addresses the possible consequences for racial and ethnic disparities of the growing reliance on risk assessment tools for sentencing in juvenile justice systems. These tools consider both legal factors (i.e. criminal history) and personal background factors (e.g. household composition, parents’ arrest history, the youth’s mental health, attitudes, school status, and current employment status) to predict the likelihood of recidivism, which then informs punishment decisions. Because they decontextualize race, the associations between race and risk factors linked to race could possibly create higher risk scores and harsher punishments for minority youth.