White Teenagers Research Articles

Infant feeding experiences among teen mothers in North Carolina: Findings from a mixed-methods study

BackgroundAdolescent mothers in the U.S. are much less likely to initiate breastfeeding than older mothers, and teens who do initiate breastfeeding tend to breastfeed for shorter durations. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to investigate breastfeeding practices, barriers and facilitators among adolescent mothers ages 17 and younger.MethodsQuantitative descriptive analyses are conducted using data from the North Carolina Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). The population-based sample comprises 389 teens ages 13-17 giving birth to a live born infant in North Carolina in 2000 - 2005 and in 2007. Qualitative analyses are based on in-depth interviews with 22 Black, White and Hispanic teen mothers residing in rural and urban areas of North Carolina conducted between November 2007 and February 2009.ResultsIn quantitative analyses, 52% (196 of 389) of North Carolina teen mothers initiated breastfeeding, but half of those who initiated breastfeeding (92/196) stopped within the first month postpartum. Hispanic teens (44/52 or 89%) were much more likely than Black (61/159 or 41%) or White teens (87/164 or 52%) to initiate breastfeeding and to continue for a longer duration. Nearly sixty two percent (29/52) of Hispanic respondents breastfed for greater than four weeks as compared to 16% (29/159) of Black respondents and 26% (39/164) of White respondents. Common barriers to breastfeeding initiation and continuation included not liking breastfeeding, returning to school, nipple pain, and insufficient milk. Qualitative data provided context for the quantitative findings, elucidating the barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding from the teens' perspective and insight into the ways in which breastfeeding support to teens could be enhanced.ConclusionsThe large number of adolescents ceasing breastfeeding within the first month points to the need for more individualized follow-up after hospital discharge in the first few days postpartum, to address common technical challenges and to provide assistance managing the transition back to school. Provision of an extra home visit or outpatient visit for teens within the first few days following hospital discharge, and advocacy to make schools more compatible with breastfeeding, could potentially help teens who desire to breastfeed to successfully continue. These interventions warrant further research to test their effectiveness among adolescents.

Hostility and Adiposity Mediate Disparities in Insulin Resistance among Adolescents and Young Adults

This study explores whether the relationship between lower socioeconomic status and insulin resistance in adolescents is mediated by both physiological and psychological factors associated with increased cardiometabolic risk. School-based longitudinal cohort study of 1222 healthy, non-Hispanic black and white teens. Parent education (PE), youth-specific Cook-Medley hostility scale, waist circumference, height, weight, pubertal status, and fasting plasma insulin (FPI) were measured and FPI reassessed 1 year later. Regression analyses utilizing bootstrapping (n=2000) were used to estimate the direct and indirect effects of PE on FPI and assess the role of hostility and adiposity while adjusting for covariates. Lower PE predicted higher FPI (B=-1.52, P=.003), as did hostility (B=.19, P=.002) and adiposity (waist circumference B=.44, P<.001, BMI B=.98, P<.001). The effect of PE on FPI was mediated by both hostility and adiposity. When adiposity and hostility were accounted for, the effect of PE on FPI decreased by 32% (B=-1.04, P=.04); the total indirect estimate was -.485 (95% CI, -.652, -.041). Hostility accounted for 36% of the meditational effect. Lower PE influences insulin resistance through adiposity and hostility. Thus, interventions to reduce health disparities associated with insulin resistance should consider both physiological and psychological approaches.

Factors Influencing the Infant Feeding Decision for Socioeconomically Deprived Pregnant Teenagers: The Moral Dimension

The importance of breastfeeding-related health outcomes in reducing inequalities in health has been recognized as a National Health Service target to increase initiation rates especially among disadvantaged groups in England. This study examined the psychosocial factors influencing infant feeding intention among pregnant teenagers expecting their first baby and living in deprived urban areas in England. A mixed methods study, using a quantitative questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, was conducted in four English regions with predominantly white and Asian teenagers (n = 71). This method identified which of all known Theory of Planned Behaviour variables were the most important in influencing feeding intentions. Focus groups provided contextual insight into the meaning of these variables for white pregnant teenagers living in a northern English inner city (n = 17). Moral norms were identified as the most predictive variable influencing teenage intention to formula feed or breastfeed. The likelihood that breastfeeding "will be embarrassing" was the only attitudinal belief rated as significantly important in influencing teenage intention to breastfeed. Three overarching themes emerged from the focus group data: "moral norms,""sexuality of the breast," and "self-esteem," with concerns relating to breastfeeding in public cutting across all themes. Breastfeeding was viewed as a morally inappropriate behavior by most of these teenagers, with formula feeding being perceived as the appropriate behavior. Existing breastfeeding promotion activities are likely to continue to fail to reach teenagers experiencing deprivation in England in the absence of effective strategies to change the underlying negative moral norms toward breastfeeding.

Pregnancy Risk among Black, White, and Hispanic Teen Girls in New York City Public Schools

Disparities in teen pregnancy rates are explained by different rates of sexual activity and contraceptive use. Identifying other components of risk such as race/ethnicity and neighborhood can inform strategies for teen pregnancy prevention. Data from the 2005 and 2007 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Surveys were used to model demographic differences in odds of recent sexual activity and birth control use among black, white, and Hispanic public high school girls. Overall pregnancy risk was calculated using pregnancy risk index (PRI) methodology, which estimates probability of pregnancy based on current sexual activity and birth control method at last intercourse. Factors of race/ethnicity, grade level, age, borough, and school neighborhood were assessed. Whites reported lower rates of current sexual activity (23.4%) than blacks (35.4%) or Hispanics (32.7%), and had lower predicted pregnancy risk (PRI = 5.4% vs. 9.0% and 10.5%, respectively). Among sexually active females, hormonal contraception use rates were low in all groups (11.6% among whites, 7.8% among blacks, and 7.5% among Hispanics). Compared to white teens, much of the difference in PRI was attributable to poorer contraceptive use (19% among blacks and 50% among Hispanics). Significant differences in contraceptive use were also observed by school neighborhood after adjusting for age group and race/ethnicity. Interventions to reduce teen pregnancy among diverse populations should include messages promoting delayed sexual activity, condom use and use of highly effective birth control methods. Access to long-acting contraceptive methods must be expanded for all sexually active high school students.

The impact of race on criminal justice ideology: An examination of high school students

Research suggests that differences exist in the criminal justice ideology of Black and White Americans. For example, adult African Americans are more likely than their White counterparts to support criminal justice measures that address the root causes of crime. There has, however, been limited interest in exploring the criminal justice ideology of juveniles. Using survey data collected from 1,398 rural and suburban public high school students, the present study examined the influence of race on the criminal justice ideology of juveniles. The findings suggested that while Black teenagers are significantly more likely to hold a liberal crime control ideology and White teenagers are significantly more likely to hold a conservative ideology, confidence in the justice system to be fair strongly influences the beliefs of both groups.

A mechanism for the development of fixed primary (essential) hypertension: insights from population-based studies using echocardiography.

Two recent observations based on echocardiographic studies in large population-based studies may have far-reaching implications: The concentric form of left ventricular hypertrophy emerges prominently in white Framingham (MA) men aged 40-49 years, and ten years later in white Framingham women. This parallels the pattern of emergence of fixed primary hypertension in white Framingham adults. Normotensive black teenage boys in Bogalusa have an echocardiographic profile that parallels more closely the profile of middle-aged white Framingham men and women than white teenage boys and girls. As noted, the former echocardiographic profiles are strongly associated with fixed primary hypertension in older adults and may be the harbingers of the premature development of fixed primary hypertension in the young black boys. These findings fit into a chain of observations that: (1) give new insight into the mechanism for premature development of primary hypertension and that should ultimately lead to closing the loop needed to characterize the cause of such hypertension: (2) may ultimately help to explain the excess of premature cardiovascular, renal, and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality in the U.S. black population compared with the white population; and (3) may lead to new, more effective strategies for reducing such excess morbidity and mortality.

Explaining cross-racial differences in teenage labor force participation: Results from a two-sided matching model

White teenagers are substantially more likely to search for employment than black teenagers. This differential occurs despite the fact that, conditional on race, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to search. While the racial wage gap is small, the unemployment rate for black teenagers is substantially higher than that of white teenagers. We develop a two-sided search model where firms are partially able to search on demographics. Model estimates reveal that firms are more able to target their search on race than on age. Employment and wage outcome differences explain half of the racial gap in labor force participation rates.

Parental and peer influences on teen smoking: Are White and Black families different?

The health risks associated with smoking disproportionately burden Blacks, and Black adults are more likely to smoke than are White adults. Most adult smokers have their first smoking experience as teenagers; however, rates of smoking initiation during adolescence remain lower among Black compared with White youth. The level and impact of family and peer risk and protective factors on adolescent smoking across both groups were modeled prospectively from 8th to 10th grade in a sample of 331 (Black n = 162, White n = 168) families using data from self-administered computer-assisted questionnaires. Predictors included parent smoking, guidelines against substance use, monitoring, consistent discipline, attachment to parents, and association with deviant peers. Mean-level differences indicated greater risk for Black teens in some cases and higher protection in others. Multiple-group structural equation modeling indicated no race differences. Several factors affected both groups: (a) parenting factors reduced association with deviant peers, (b) association with deviant peers increased the risk of smoking in the 10th grade, and (c) teens were more likely to smoke if their parents smoked. Reduced smoking among Black teens compared with White teens may be due to the protection of clear parental guidelines about substance use and clearly stated consequences for failure to observe those guidelines.

In This Issue

In This Issue

Their Words, Our Story: Freedom Writers as Scenario of Pedagogical Reform

Their Words, Our Story: Freedom Writers as Scenario of Pedagogical Reform Anne Helen Petersen The story of Freedom Writers (LaGravenese 2007) is a familiar one: A sincere teacher, Erin Gruell (Hilary Swank), chooses a modest career in education over a more lucrative one in the “real” world. Declining law school, Gruell has selected Wilson High School for its “exciting” voluntary integration program and is quickly assigned four sections of freshman English. She initially faces resistance and chaos, yet she takes on two extra jobs in order to pay for and inspire the students through books, field trips, and fancy dinners. The students – a mix of African-Americans, Asians, Latinos, and one scared white teen – slowly warm to her and each other, funneling their anger onto the page in the form of journals that Gruell provides. Hence the inspiration for the title: these students become “Freedom Writers,” metaphorical descendants of the Civil Rights Freedom Riders who worked for racial harmony in the 1960s. Eventually, Gruell battles the school board to stay with the class of freshman throughout their high school career; as a result, nearly all of the students go on to college. Gruell and the Freedom Writers published their collected writings (The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World) in 1999, which served to inspire the screenplay and Swank’s involvement with the picture. This paper considers the ways in which Freedom Writers presents and performs race, difference, and the scenario of “pedagogical reform.” To do so, I engage Julia Kristeva’s theories of the abject and Richard Dyer’s work on whiteness, highlighting the insidious manner in which Hollywood subtly and not-so-subtly constructs race as a problem to be solved, a color to be blanched, and an evil to be eradicated. While Freedom Writers differs from much Hollywood film in its assertion that writing – as opposed to action – may indeed bring us a step closer to racial harmony, much of the lesson of tolerance that it preaches is undermined by the specificity of the scenario. Through its “discovery” of the Other, “treatment” of racialized characteristics, and eventual reform and assimilation, Freedom Writers encourages its audience to conceive of difference, poverty, and race in similar terms: as problems solved only through strong white leadership. Performance scholar Diana Taylor gives us a paradigm to discuss the idea of the performative scenario, along with the notion of the archive and repertoire that inform it. If the weaving of baskets, preparation of tortillas, performance of dances, recounting of tales, and marriage ceremonies are all examples of the repertoire, then the basket museum exhibit, a cookbook, a dance photo, a history book, and a wedding video represent their archived correspondents. While the repertoire is dynamic, adaptive, and immediate, the archive remains static – frozen, decontextualized, and distanced. In Taylor’s words, the repertoire – society’s “embodied practice/knowledge” – is “selected, classified, and presented for analysis” as it finds its place in the archive.1 The archivist compulsion is understandable, as a static item is far simpler to theorize and comprehend. However, archived materials are also easier to fetishize, re-appropriate, and revise. Such is the function of film in our current cultural moment: it catches performance (whether a protest, a play, a child’s first step) and inserts it into the archive of our memories, both societal and personal. But who decides what will enter into the archive? Whose memory, exactly, is [End Page 31] being recorded? What prompts an image, event, or performance to merit transference? Progress, victory, birth, but also failure, anxiety, distress, fear – moments that require reckoning. Taylor asserts that such moments are most often processed and understood through the use of a scenario – a term she defines as “an act of transfer, a paradigm that is formulaic, portable, repeatable, and often banal because it leaves out complexity, reduces conflict to its stock elements, and encourages fantasies of participation.”2 The scenario of discovery, for example, provides a means of “reckoning” with otherness. In Taylor’ words, [its] banality hides its instrumentality and transitivity: the scenario transports ‘us’ (as expedition leaders or newspaper readers) from here to an exotic ‘there,’ transfers...

Just Us Girls: The Contemporary African American Young Adult Novel (review)

Reviewed by: Just Us Girls: The Contemporary African American Young Adult Novel Michelle H. Martin (bio) Just Us Girls: The Contemporary African American Young Adult Novel. By Wendy Rountree. New York: Peter Lang, 2008. Wendy Rountree's Just Us Girls helps to fill a significant gap in young adult literary criticism. In this onehundred page, accessible analytical work, Rountree offers an engaging examination of the novels of a number of African American women who write young adult fiction. In the introduction she asserts that African American women writers tend to write about many of the same issues whether they're writing for adults or for young adults. She justifies this overlap by arguing that Perhaps, because the root causes of these primary issues such as [End Page 75] racism and sexism are so deeply entrenched in social, political, and economic institutions and society in general, these issues are never "solved" in literature or real life but are psychologically "managed" by African Americans . . . The function of African American children's and young adult literature is to teach young African Americans how to deal with these issues, not necessarily solve them, so that racism and sexism do not hinder their lives irrevocably. (2) Ultimately, Rountree claims that the role of African American young adult literature has not changed markedly since its inception; what's more, she suggests that black female identity is much more conflicted and complex than that of white teens, an idea that strongly influences this genre designed with black teens in mind. She quotes from Virginia Henderson's 1991 book Multicolored Mirror: Cultural Substance in Literature for Children and Young Adults, in which Henderson writes that "an African-American child born today will greet a world where racism, sexism, classism, handicapism, and a variety of other '-isms' continue to be subtly and blatantly at work" (3). In fact, if we consider the first magazine specifically designed for African American youth, or "Children of the Sun," as the editors labeled them—the Brownies' Book Magazine—we find a number of principles that also underpin black young adult fiction, perhaps the most relevant of these being "to make colored children realize that being colored is a normal, beautiful thing" (103). Though much has changed since 1920–21 when the Brownies' Book Magazine was published, Rountree's argument emphasizes that African American girls still need to be affirmed. Though Rountree argues that the contemporary genre serves a similar function now as it did more than eighty years ago, she also effectively argues that African American young adult literature has transformed other literary forms—namely, the Bildungsroman, a genre that traditionally featured a white male character. In the seven chapters of this volume, Rountree demonstrates just how that transformation has materialized in specific works by Mildred Pitts Walter, Rita Williams-Garcia, Rosa Guy, Virginia Hamilton, Candy Dawson Boyd, and Deborah Gregory, and in three different chapters Rountree focuses on works by Jacqueline Woodson. Chapter 1 takes as its critical lens Robert Stepto's idea of the "ritual grounds" to analyze the relationship of African Americans to their community. "Ritual grounds," sites that stand apart from the dominant society, tend to be safe spaces for black young people, but they can also be undermined by the dominant society of which they are a (generally marginalized) part (10). Using these ideas, Rountree examines the ways that Martha, the protagonist of Mildred Pitts Walter's Trouble's Child, finds strength but also oppression in her rural, African American island culture off the coast of Louisiana. Even though Martha identifies with her culture, she envisions a different life for herself than that ascribed by the traditions of her community. In this chapter Rountree offers an extensive comparison between Martha's situation and that of [End Page 76] Janie, the protagonist of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, which provides some excellent historical and literary contextualization for the contemporary work and further strengthens Rountree's argument that African American women writers tend to cover some of the same thematic ground whether they're writing for adults or for young adults. In fact, Rountree's use of "adult" African American literature as comparative touchstones several times...

“Doing Gender”

C andace West and Don Zimmerman wrote Doing Gender at a time (the 1980s) when a paradigm shift in feminist social science was occur ring. The long-standing conception of sex roles had suffered fundamental feminist critique for a variety of reasons, none more important than its eclipsing of interrogations of power and inequality (Lopata and Thorne 1978). For those second-wave feminist perspectives that did highlight power and inequality-such as Radical feminism and Marxist feminism serious theoretical problems likewise quickly emerged. Radical feminism was the first feminist perspective to spotlight the significance of masculine power, but it eventually became radically regressive by assuming essential ism. Marxist feminism-popular for its emphasis on both class and inequalities-became enmeshed in analytical debates over how best to conceptualize the intersection between patriarchy and capitalism. And all of these perspectives-sex-role theory, Radical feminism, and Marxist (and socialist) feminism-were criticized for ignoring distinct displays of agency. Individual social action was viewed by each theory as simply the result of one's sex role or the systems of patriarchy and capitalism. Thus, by the mid-1980s feminist social science that theorized about suffered an impasse at both the micro and the macro levels. Doing Gender was a conceptual breakthrough that compellingly responded to this theoretical impasse and influenced feminist theory worldwide. The concept of doing gender was supported and confirmed during 20 years of intense sociological scrutiny and substantial cogent research. Not surprisingly, this concept became, and remains, immensely salient in sociology, studies, and feminist theory. Over the past eight years, my research on doing gender has concen trated primarily on white, working-class, violent and nonviolent teenage

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Teen and Parent Perspectives toward Depression Treatment

Purpose There are significant racial/ethnic disparities in youth access to and use of appropriate depression treatment. Although there is a growing literature on racial/ethnic differences in treatment preference among adults, we know very little about whether these differences persist for adolescents and whether parents have an influence on their teens’ treatment perspectives. Methods Teens and parents from a sample of primary care settings were interviewed at baseline and 6 months. We used bivarate and regression analyses to describe racial/ethnic differences in teen and parent depression knowledge and treatment preference and to assess the impact of parental views on teen perspectives. Results Latino and African American teens had lower average scores on antidepressant knowledge ( p < .01) and counseling knowledge than white teens ( p < .01). These racial/ethnic differences were greater among parents ( p < .001). Parent antidepressant knowledge had an impact on teen knowledge when teens reported turning to them for advice (β = 0.20, p < .05). Teen knowledge about medication (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16, p < .01) and counseling (OR = 1.26, p < .001) were associated with a willingness to seek active treatment. Conclusions Racial/ethnic differences in depression treatment knowledge persist, but are more pronounced for parents than teens. Talking to parents who have more knowledge about depression treatment is associated with more teen knowledge and that knowledge is associated with greater willingness to seek depression treatment. Research is needed on the content and type of conversations that parents and teens have about depression treatment, and if there are differences by race/ethnicity.

Quantitative CT Reference Values for Vertebral Trabecular Bone Density in Children and Young Adults

To determine normative reference values for vertebral trabecular bone density (TBD) obtained by using quantitative computed tomography (CT) in healthy white children, teenagers, and young adults of both sexes. The data presented in this HIPAA-compliant study are a compilation of data from multiple investigations on the determinants of bone acquisition in healthy children conducted at this institution from 1992 to 2006. The institutional review board for clinical investigations approved the protocols for each of these studies, and written informed consent was provided by all parents and/or participants. Quantitative CT measurements of TBD (in milligrams per cubic centimeter) were obtained at the first, second, and third lumbar vertebrae in 1222 healthy white male and female subjects aged 5-21 years (mean age for male subjects, 15.1 years +/- 3.6 [standard deviation]; range, 5.6-21.9 years; mean age for female subjects, 14.2 years +/- 3.9; range, 5.7-21.6 years; mean age for both sexes, 14.6 years +/- 3.8). Mean and standard deviations for TBD were determined for each age group in 1-year intervals, and Student t tests for unpaired data were performed to compare male subjects with female subjects. TBD increased equally during growth in male and female subjects. Although the percentage increase in TBD was similar for both sexes (23.7% [57 of 241] for male subjects, 22.2% [54 of 243] for female subjects), the rise began and reached peak values at an earlier age in female subjects; increases in TBD occurred from 10-15 years of age in female subjects, whereas in male subjects, these increases were not observed until age 12 years and were completed at 17 years. This study provides reference standards for quantitative CT bone measurements in children and young adults, which may aid in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pediatric metabolic bone disorders.

Violence and Drug Use in Rural Teens: National Prevalence Estimates From the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

The purpose of this study was to compare national estimates of drug use and exposure to violence between rural and urban teens. Twenty-eight dependent variables from the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey were used to compare violent activities, victimization, suicidal behavior, tobacco use, alcohol use, and illegal drug use across rural, urban, and suburban teens across the country. Overall, rural teens were equally or more likely than both suburban and urban teens to report experiencing many measures of violent behavior, victimization, suicide behaviors, and drug use. Among all teens, nonwhites reported equal or higher rates of violent behavior and victimization than whites, but these associations disappeared within the rural-only population. Rural areas do not appear to provide a strongly protective effect against risk behaviors in teens and may be a risk factor in itself. Community prevention efforts should focus on reaching rural areas and segmenting program content based on need. Where white teens might benefit from an emphasis on preventing tobacco and alcohol use, nonwhite teens would benefit from an emphasis on preventing violence and victimization.

The Becoming of Bodies

The relations between women's bodies and images have long interested and occupied feminist theoretical and empirical work. Recently, much feminist research has focused on the relations between girls' and young women's bodies and images in “the media.” Underpinning much of this research, I argue, is an oppositional model of subject/object onto which bodies and images are mapped. Developing Deleuze's concept of becoming and exploring my own research with a small number of white British teenage girls, I develop an alternative model of the relations between bodies and images. I suggest that while the subject/object model relies upon a notion of media effects, an understanding of bodies as becoming opens up feminist research to consider the ways in which bodies are not separate to images but rather are known, understood and experienced through images. If feminist research takes seriously this conception of bodies as becoming, its task is to account for how bodies become through their relations with images; what becomings of bodies do images limit or extend?

Teenagers and Artificial Tanning

Recently, many states have attempted to pass laws to limit teenagers' access to tanning facilities. During the 2007 legislative session alone, 16 states introduced bills on this topic and, as of December 2007, 4 became law.1 At least 28 states and 4 counties regulate tanning facilities for minors.1 Mounting evidence about the carcinogenicity of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from tanning devices has led to this wave of legislation. Artificial tanning, primarily through of the use of tanning beds in commercial tanning salons, began in the 1970s. The “tanning industry” is booming, with ∼$5 billion of annual revenue, up from $1 billion in 1992.2 Twenty-eight million visits are made to the 50000 tanning facilities in the United States each year.2 Artificial tanning is popular with teenagers. In a national sample of non-Hispanic white teenagers, 24% of respondents between the ages of 13 and 19 reported using a tanning facility at least once in their lives; this represented 2.9 million teenagers.3 In another national survey, 10% of youth between the ages of 11 and 18 reported using indoor tanning sunlamps in the previous year.4 Teenagers are specifically targeted by the tanning industry through methods such as advertisements placed in high school newspapers. Advertisements commonly offer coupons for discounts, including “unlimited tanning” offers.5 Artificial tanning is especially popular with girls and women: of 1 million people who use tanning salons every day, 70% are females between the ages of 16 and 49. Twenty-eight percent of US teenage girls interviewed in 1996 have used tanning salons 3 or more times during their lives.3 Artificial tanning among white girls rises rapidly with age, more than doubling from ages 14 to 15 (7% to 15%), and doubling again at age 17 (35%).6 Of female tanning bed users, at … Address correspondence to Sophie J. Balk MD, Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1621 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10461. E-mail: sbalk{at}montefiore.org

Differences in the influence of family background and social activities on smoking of minority and white high school seniors, 1976-2004.

This population-based study of high school seniors examines differences in the influence of several important determinants of smoking among white, African-American, Hispanic, and other teens. With national survey data for each year from 1976 to 2004, logistic regression is used to test for differences across race and ethnic groups (averaged over all years) in the effects on daily smoking of background factors such as living arrangements and parents' education and social activities such as academic performance and religiosity. The results show similarity in effects across racial categories, but some determinants have weaker or reversed effects for African-American and Hispanic youth than for white youth. For example, high parents' education increases smoking among Hispanic youth, has little influence among African Americans, and decreases smoking among whites. These results suggest that smoking patterns of minority teens differ in some ways from those of white teens.

The Perils of the Back Seat: Date Rape, Race and Gender in 1950s America

Dating among white American teenagers in the 1950s caused parents considerable concern, as it represented disturbing developments in sexual expectations. While the rhetoric surrounding marriage celebrated traditional gender roles and monogamy, Americans bemoaned social and moral decay, caused in part by women's encroachment on male prerogatives. Sexual experience for boys increasingly became a defining gender characteristic and a means of achieving manhood as well. Ideas about proper marital norms and studies of dating practices among young people naturalised male aggression as proof of masculinity, which made girls, even ‘respectable ones’, vulnerable to violence from their dates. As teens' acceptance of going steady became more widespread, older racialised narratives of sexual danger evolved to incorporate new dating trends. Whereas American, and especially southern white, women knew the dangers of the supposed ‘black beast rapist’, they learnt during the 1950s that a special danger could confront them in the back seat of cars, despite the presence of their white, male date. Even with a white protector, white women remained vulnerable to violence on dates, whether from black men or from their white date. As dating conventions loosened, white women found that that the perils of the back seat only increased.

Early Childhood Diet, Overweight, and Cardiovascular Risk

Early Childhood Diet, Overweight, and Cardiovascular Risk