Ethno-racial Status Research Articles

Mestizaje and the Significance of Phenotype in Guatemala

Ethnic issues in Guatemala are commonly analyzed using theoretical frameworks that underscore the role of Maya activism in promoting Mayan identification. However, these frameworks often pay insufficient attention to the local significance of phenotype. In this study, I propose an alternative framework to explain ethno-racial status in contexts of mestizaje. Based on this framework, I investigate whether phenotype, captured by skin color, is a significant dimension of ethno-racial status in Guatemala using nationally representative survey data and regression analysis. I specifically examine the association between skin color and ethnic self-identification, and differences by ethno-racial characteristics in the perception of skin color discrimination and in the desire for a whiter skin color. I find evidence of a direct association between skin color and ladino self-identification, evidence of a greater perception of skin color discrimination by individuals with more indigenous characteristics, and evidence of a direct association between indigenous ancestry, captured by indigenous first language, and the desire for a whiter skin color. These findings reveal the significance of phenotype as a distinct dimension of ethno-racial status in Guatemala beyond ancestry and ethnic self-identification.

C.01.03 - Treatment of cognitive dysfunction in clinical practice: what have we learnt from our major depressive disorder (MDD) patients?

Anxiety disorders are associated with psychosocial functional impairments, but no study has compared how these impairments might vary by ethno-racial status. We examined whether minority status was uniquely associated with functional impairments in 431 adults with anxiety disorders. Functioning was measured in the rater-assessed domains of: Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF); global psychosocial functioning; work, relationship, and recreational functioning; and, self-reported: life satisfaction, mental health functioning, physical functioning, and disability status. After controlling for demographic and clinical variables, results revealed evidence of disparities, whereby African Americans (AAs), particularly those with low income, had worse GAF, worse global psychosocial functioning, and were more likely to be disabled compared to non-Latino Whites. Latinos, particularly those with low income, had worse global psychosocial functioning than non-Latino Whites. Results suggest AAs and Latinos are at increased risk for functional impairments not better accounted for by other demographic or clinical variables.

Transitional Housing Facilities for Women Leaving the Sex Industry: Informed by Evidence or Ideology?

This article juxtaposes the results of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, derived from 125 client case files at a Denver transitional housing facility for women leaving the sex industry, with the results of a content analysis that examined how all 34 similar U.S. facilities represent themselves, their clients, and their services on their websites. Content analysis results ascertained four primary findings with respect to transitional housing facilities for women leaving the sex industry, including their conflation of sex trading with sex trafficking, dominance by Christian faith-based organizations, race-neutral approach, and depiction of their clients as uneducated and socially isolated. Yet our statistical analysis revealed that significant differences exist between women’s sex industry experiences in ways that are strongly determined by ethno-racial identity, age, marital status, and exposure to abuse throughout the life course. Juxtaposing the results of these analyses highlights some rather glaring disconnects between the ways that facility websites depict their clients and the meaningful differences between women seeking services at the Denver transitional housing facility. These findings raise significant concerns regarding approaches that ignore ethno-racial differences, collapse the sex industry’s complexity, make assumptions about the women’s educational or other needs, and neglect the importance of women’s community and relational ties. Taken together, these troubling realities suggest a need for evidenced-based, rather than ideology-based, alternatives for women who wish to leave the sex industry.

COMMENT: IS RACE REALLY SO FLUID? REVISITING SAPERSTEIN AND PENNER'S EMPIRICAL CLAIMS.

COMMENT: IS RACE REALLY SO FLUID? REVISITING SAPERSTEIN AND PENNER'S EMPIRICAL CLAIMS.

Ethno-Racial Variation in Recovery From Severe Mental Illness: A Qualitative Comparison.

Purpose-driven studies examining the relationship between ethnicity, culture, and recovery are absent from the empirical literature. As such, the overall aim of this study was to examine ethno-racial variations in recovery perspectives. Specific objectives consist of comparing and contrasting ethno-racial variations in 1) definitions of recovery, 2) barriers to recovery, and 3) facilitators of recovery. We recruited people with severe mental illness from 2 broad ethno-racial groups (Caribbean-Canadian and Euro-Canadian) to partake in a qualitative interview on recovery (n = 47). Participants were asked to give their own definitions of recovery, as well as self-perceived barriers and facilitators. Interview transcripts were then subjected to thematic analysis. We compared and contrasted the distribution and salience of emerging themes between the Euro-Canadian and Caribbean-Canadian participants. Recovery was consistently defined as a gradual process involving progress in key life domains including employment, social engagement, and community participation by both groups. This was underpinned by a growing future orientation. Stigma, financial strain, and psychiatric hospitalization were considered major barriers to recovery in both groups. Participants from both groups generally considered stated definitions of recovery to be simultaneous facilitators of recovery-employment and social engagement being the most frequently mentioned. God and religion were key facilitators for the Caribbean-Canadian group but not for Euro-Canadians. Definitions, barriers, and facilitators to recovery were generally shared among our sample, regardless of ethno-racial status, with the exception of God and religion.

Changing Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the United States: A Review Essay

Changing Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the United States: A Review Essay

Intersectionality and planning at the margins: LGBTQ youth of color in New York

Through an intersectional lens, this article reflects on the dialog between planning and gender, feminist, and queer studies to analyze the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth of color (YOC) community in New York City (NYC). The community is subject to multiple disenfranchisements, given their ethno-racial status, class, age, gender, and sexual orientation. This community's limited access to safe public spaces and amenities, housing, health services, job training, and other opportunities is an urban planning challenge insufficiently understood or addressed. Our methodology includes participant observation and analysis of an LGBTQ YOC tour of West Village in NYC, interviews with LGBTQ individuals and NGO staff, life stories, observations in LGBTQ-friendly meetings and facilities, and content analysis of LGBTQ reports and media coverage. The research shows the agency of an LGBTQ youth group as a resilient community organization effectively participating in planning processes and exerting rights to public space and services. Finally, it offers recommendations to planners and policy-makers to facilitate the recognition and expansion of rights to the city for LGBTQ, particularly YOC, by committing to understanding their unique conditions and needs and expanding their access to safe housing and public spaces, poverty reduction programs and job opportunities, and health and social support services.

¿Coexisten los fenómenos de discriminación salarial y segmentación ocupacional hacia las minorías étnico-raciales residentes en Santiago de Cali?

This paper contrasted the hypothesis of wage discrimination and occupational segmentation by ethnoracial status in Cali using the methodology Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and Multinomial Logistic model. The results show that 56.30 % of the wage gaps are explained by heterogeneity in individuals’ own characteristics, while the 39.26% relates to discrimination effect. Additionally, the probability of realizing categorized as ethnic minorities occupations is lower (6.9 % ) compared to mixed occupations (25.6 %) and non-ethnic ( 67.5 %). This verifies that ethnic minorities face stationed in Cali both phenomena. Keyword: Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, ethnic-racial, occupational segmentation, wage gaps. JEL Codes: J15, J16, J21, J71

Stability of biological father presence as a proxy for family stability: cross-racial associations with the longitudinal development of emotion regulation in toddlerhood.

The current study, utilizing data from the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (Love etal., 2005) explored the relationship between biological father presence and emotion regulation over toddlerhood among children from low-income families. Conceptualizing biological father presence as a proxy for family role development, results are interpreted from a role development theoretical perspective. The latent growth curve model was compared based on child ethnoracial status (African American, Caucasian, Hispanic) and child gender. Consistent biological father presence was associated with toddlers' regulatory development across toddlerhood, and this relationship was most robust among Caucasian toddlers as compared to African American toddlers. Findings for Hispanic toddlers were not significantly different from those of Caucasian or African American families. Results bolster the literature on father presence and child outcomes. Analyses address consistency in father presence as a proxy for coherent role development and define a link between consistent father presence and children's regulatory development, demonstrating ethnoracial differences which are likely attributed to the social construction of family roles.

Disparities in psychosocial functioning in a diverse sample of adults with anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are associated with psychosocial functional impairments, but no study has compared how these impairments might vary by ethno-racial status. We examined whether minority status was uniquely associated with functional impairments in 431 adults with anxiety disorders. Functioning was measured in the rater-assessed domains of: Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF); global psychosocial functioning; work, relationship, and recreational functioning; and, self-reported: life satisfaction, mental health functioning, physical functioning, and disability status. After controlling for demographic and clinical variables, results revealed evidence of disparities, whereby African Americans (AAs), particularly those with low income, had worse GAF, worse global psychosocial functioning, and were more likely to be disabled compared to non-Latino Whites. Latinos, particularly those with low income, had worse global psychosocial functioning than non-Latino Whites. Results suggest AAs and Latinos are at increased risk for functional impairments not better accounted for by other demographic or clinical variables.

Immigration & the Color Line at the Beginning of the 21st Century

The “color line” has long served as a metaphor for the starkness of black/white relations in the United States. Yet post-1965 increases in U.S. immigration have brought millions whose ethnoracial status seems neither black nor white, boosting ethnoracial diversity and potentially changing the color line. After reviewing past and current conceptualizations of America's racial divide(s), we ask what recent trends in intermarriage and multiracial identification – both indicators of ethnoracial boundary dissolution – reveal about ethnoracial color lines in today's immigrant America. We note that rises in intermarriage and multiracial identification have emerged more strongly among Asians and Latinos than blacks and in more diverse metropolitan areas. Moreover, these tendencies are larger than would be expected based solely on shifts in the relative sizes of ethnoracial groups, suggesting that immigrationgenerated diversity is associated with cultural change that is dissolving ethnoracial barriers – but more so for immigrant groups than blacks.

Self-perceived Integration of Immigrants and their Children

The purpose of this study is to examine whether there are intergenerational differences in the self-perceived integration of immigrants. The analysis disentangles this relationship from the effects of ethno-racial status and other individual-level characteristics. In addition, it examines the effects of neighborhood socio-demographic composition, such as living in an ethnic enclave. The study merges data from the 2001 Canadian Census and the post-censal Ethnic Diversity Survey. The study focuses on two dimensions of self-perceived integration, sense of belonging and feelings of discomfort living in the host society. The core finding is that the relationship between immigrant generation and integration is complex. This relationship is conditional on ethno-racial status and neighborhood of residence. The findings question “straight-line” theories of intergenerational progress and demonstrate the need to use a fine-grained approach for understanding the integration process.

The Smoking Abstinence Questionnaire: measurement of smokers' abstinence‐related expectancies

To develop and validate a measure of smokers' expectancies for the abstinence process upon quitting smoking: the Smoking Abstinence Questionnaire (SAQ). Principal component analysis and other psychometric analyses of self-report data. San Francisco, California. A total of 507 adult smokers of at least 10 cigarettes per day diverse in gender, sexual orientation and ethnoracial status. The primary measure was a draft version of the SAQ. Additional measures assessed a variety of other smoking-related constructs. Analyses yielded 10 scales of the SAQ: Withdrawal, Social Improvement/Non-smoker Identity, Adverse Outcomes, Treatment Effectiveness, Common Reasons, Barriers to Treatment, Social Support, Optimistic Outcomes, Coffee Use and Weight Gain. The SAQ scales demonstrated internal consistencies ranging from 0.62 to 0.85 and were associated with tobacco dependence, motivation to quit, abstinence self-efficacy, withdrawal symptoms, dietary restraint, shape and weight concern and tobacco use expectancies. The SAQ predicted smoking-related constructs above and beyond tobacco use expectancies, suggesting that abstinence-related expectancies and tobacco use expectancies are distinct from one another. A newly developed questionnaire, the Smoking Abstinence Questionnaire, appears to capture reliably smokers' expectancies for abstinence (Withdrawal, Social Improvement/Non-smoker Identity, Adverse Outcomes, Common Reasons, Optimistic Outcomes, Coffee Use, and Weight Gain) and expectancies related to the success of a quit attempt (Treatment Effectiveness, Barriers to Treatment and Social Support). It remains to be seen how far any of these expectancies predict attempts to quit, withdrawal, treatment utilization and response and quitting success above and beyond existing measures.

A meta-analysis of the risk for psychotic disorders among first- and second-generation immigrants

There is increasing acceptance of migration as a risk factor for schizophrenia and related disorders; however, the magnitude of the risk among second-generation immigrants (SGIs) remains unclear. Generational differences in the incidence of psychotic disorders among migrants might improve our understanding of the relationship between migration, ethnicity and psychotic disorders. This meta-analysis aimed at determining the risk of psychotic disorders among SGIs in comparison with non-migrants and first-generation immigrants (FGIs). Medline, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases were searched systematically for population-based studies on migration and psychotic disorders published between 1977 and 2008. We also contacted experts, tracked citations and screened bibliographies. All potential publications were screened by two independent reviewers in a threefold process. Studies were included in the meta-analysis if they reported incidence data, differentiated FGIs from SGIs and provided age-adjusted data. Data extraction and quality assessment were conducted for each study. Twenty-one studies met all inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of 61 effect sizes for FGIs and 28 for SGIs yielded mean-weighted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of 2.3 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0-2.7] for FGIs and 2.1 (95% CI 1.8-2.5) for SGIs. There was no significant risk difference between generations, but there were significant differences according to ethno-racial status and host country. The increased risk of schizophrenia and related disorders among immigrants clearly persists into the second generation, suggesting that post-migration factors play a more important role than pre-migration factors or migration per se. The observed variability suggests that the risk is mediated by the social context.

Ethnoracial variations in acute PTSD symptoms among hospitalized survivors of traumatic injury

Ethnoracial minority status contributes to an increased risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after trauma exposure, beyond other risk factors. A population-based sampling frame was used to examine the associations between ethnoracial groups and early PTSD symptoms while adjusting for relevant clinical and demographic characteristics. Acutely injured trauma center inpatients (N = 623) were screened with the PTSD Checklist. American Indian and African American patients reported the highest levels of posttraumatic stress and preinjury cumulative trauma burden. African American heritage was independently associated with an increased risk of higher acute PTSD symptom levels. Disparities in trauma history, PTSD symptoms, and event related factors emphasize the need for acute care services to incorporate culturally competent approaches for treating these diverse populations.

The implications of race and ethnicity for shared decision-making.

Shared Decision Making is an innovative health-care approach gaining ground as part of the shift toward patient-centered medicine. It involves collaboration and discussion between doctors and patients to arrive at mutually satisfying treatment decisions. It places a strong emphasis on the therapeutic alliance, empowering patients to play an active role in their own care. In this article, the author argues that research and development vis-à-vis shared decision-making must take serious account of ethno-racial status as a mediating variable. This may be a powerful determinant of broad orientations toward medical decision-making. Medline was used to extract relevant papers which were analyzed and intertwined with the author's existing knowledge of relevant sociological and anthropological evidence and theory. Specific proposals are made for a research agenda ensuring that ethno-racial issues are considered as a departure point rather than an afterthought in shared decision making model development.

Perceived stigmatisation of young mothers: An exploratory study of psychological and social experience

Patterns of childbearing vary cross-culturally and historically. In Canada, the average age of women at first birth was 28 in 2003, with almost 50% of all births occurring to women 30 years of age and over. This represents a radical change from the recent past—in 1971 average age at first birth was 22.8. Such changes may impact upon dominant discourse regarding normalcy and deviance with regard to women's fertility behaviour. The effect of shifting demographics and discourse on the psychosocial experience of mothers has not been a focus of study in Canada. We conducted a grounded theory study exploring the psychosocial experience of mothers of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds in Montreal. Thirty-three women partook in either an in-depth individual interview or focus group. By the end of the research, age and ethno-racial status emerged as two key grounded variables affecting women's experience of motherhood. Anglophone Euro-Canadian participants in their early 20s felt strongly stigmatised as mothers, which they attributed to their age at parity. In contrast, older Anglophone Euro-Canadian mothers and Anglophone Afro-Caribbean mothers of any age rarely mentioned stigma as a facet of even minor importance. The perceived stigma permeated the lifeworlds of younger Anglophone Euro-Canadian mothers with negative cognitive, emotional and behavioural effects. We argue that such stigmatisation may serve a penological function to affirm and maintain dominant Anglo-Canadian middle-class cultural norms emphasising the importance of education, careers and delayed childbearing for women. Younger Anglophone Afro-Caribbean mothers may not feel such stigma because early age at parity is more common in the Caribbean sub-culture, which may be relatively more pro-natalist than mainstream Euro-Canadian culture. We conclude by theorising that Anglophone Euro-Canadian mothers in their early 20s may now be experiencing aspects of social exclusion traditionally associated with ‘teenage mothers.’ This may have a deleterious effect on health.