Adverse Birth Outcomes in African American Women: The Social Context of Persistent Reproductive Disadvantage
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: African Americans have the highest rates of infant mortality and adverse birth outcomes of all major racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The long-standing nature of this disparity suggests the need to shift epidemiologic focus from individual-level risk factors to the larger social forces that shape disease risk in populations. In this article, the African American reproductive disadvantage is discussed within the context of American race relations. The review of the literature focuses on racism as a social determinant of race-based disparities in adverse birth outcomes with specific attention to the viability of genetic explanations, the role of socioeconomic factors, the multidimensional nature of racism, and the stress-induced physiologic pathways by which racism may negatively affect pregnancy. Implications for social work research and practice also are discussed.
Source: Social Work in Public Health
Author: Tyan Parker Dominguez
Institution: University of Southern California
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2096143124