Browsing by Subject "African-Americans"

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    Dementia incidence declined in African-Americans but not in Yoruba
    (Elsevier, 2016-03) Gao, Sujuan; Ogunniyi, Adesola; Hall, Kathleen S.; Baiyewu, Olesegun; Unverzagt, Frederick W.; Lane, Kathleen A.; Murrell, Jill R.; Gureje, Oye; Hendrie, Hugh C.; Department of Biostatistics, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    INTRODUCTION: To compare dementia incidence of African-American and Yoruba cohorts aged ≥70 years enrolled in 1992 and 2001. METHODS: African-Americans residing in Indianapolis and Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria without dementia were enrolled in 1992 and 2001 and evaluated every 2-3 years until 2009. The cohorts consist of 1440 African-Americans, 1774 Yoruba in 1992 and 1835 African-Americans and 1895 Yoruba in the 2001 cohorts aged ≥70 years. RESULTS: In African-Americans, dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) incidence rates were significantly lower in 2001 than 1992 for all age groups except the oldest group. The overall standardized annual dementia incidence rates were 3.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2%-4.1%) in the 1992 cohort and 1.4% (95% CI, 1.2%-1.7%) in the 2001 cohort. There was no significant difference in dementia or AD incidence between the Yoruba cohorts. DISCUSSION: Future research is needed to explore the reasons for the differential changes in incidence rates in these two populations.
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    Factors that Influence Mass Incarceration among African-Americans
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Egunyomi, Ayobami; Waterhouse, Carlton
    Mass incarceration refers to the high rate of imprisonment among a certain racial group. The problem of mass incarceration is common among African-Americans. The main objective of this study is to identify the major factors that lead to the high rate of incarceration among African-Americans. For years, the issue of mass incarceration has been a subject of controversy. While some believe mass incarceration is a subtle form of racism against African-Americans and a posteffect of slavery, some others view it as an adaptation to the demands of the society. Due to these different assertions on the issue of mass incarceration and also the impact of mass incarceration on the society, it is imperative to conduct research on the causes of mass incarceration prevalent among African-Americans. My primary method of research was through analyzing statistical information while referring to scholarly articles and literature. This study aims at examining the factors that have led to mass incarceration with the hope that it will help minimize the number of African-Americans in incarceration. The goal of this research is to influence subsequent decisions and policies of the key players in the American Criminal Justice System on issues concerning incarceration of African Americans.
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    Race and Right-Wing Authoritarianism: How Scoring High in Authoritarianism Does Not Necessarily Lead to Support for Right-Wing Candidates
    (Wiley, 2017-03) Dusso, Aaron; Political Science, School of Liberal Arts
    Objectives Authoritarianism has a long history suggesting that it is primarily a phenomenon of the right. However, I argue that this has led to scholars overlooking the potential that, in some contexts, authoritarianism can lead to support for left-wing candidates. African-American voters in the United States provide such a context. A key component of right-wing authoritarianism is that individuals will support whom they believe to be their rightful leader. In the United States, who one believes to be their group's rightful leader is contingent on the race of the voter and the party of the candidate. I hypothesize that as African-American voters' level of authoritarianism increases, they will be more likely to support the left-wing Democratic candidate. Methods I test this hypothesis with a national sample of voters after the 2012 U.S. presidential election. I estimate multiple logit models predicting the probability of voting for Obama, the key independent variables being respondents' right-wing authoritarian score, their race, and the interaction of these two variables. Results The results present strong support for my hypothesis that an increase in right-wing authoritarianism increases the probability of African-American voters choosing Obama. Conclusion The results show that the effect of authoritarianism on vote choice is contingent on race/ethnicity. Too often, scholars have overlooked the potential that whom individuals deem to be their established authority is contingent on the political context. These results challenge scholars to provide a more nuanced approach to how authoritarianism influences behavior.
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    RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN LIFESTYLE: EFFECTS ON INFANT MORTALITY
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2012-04-13) Whitson, Tyra L.; Henry Anthony, Ronda
    Compared to Japan, Spain, Canada, and other post-industrialized coun-tries, the United States has the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) reaching almost 7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. The rate for African-Americans is 13.63 while the rate for Caucasians is 5.76 and the gap continues to widen. The gap is even wider in Indiana, reaching 18.1 for African-Americans and 6.4 for Caucasians. A few determinants of infant mortality include maternal health, disorders related to short gestation, socioeconomic status, respirato-ry distress in newborns and inadequate prenatal care. High levels of stress also may pose some special risks for pregnant women. For example, stress may contribute to preterm labor by triggering the release of a hormone called corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). CRH, which is produced by the brain and the placenta, is closely tied to labor. This may cause premature birth and low birthweight, possibly resulting in death. Further research will be done to investigate if stress management differs among African-American women and Caucasian women and what affect the taboo of therapy among the African-American community has on managing stress related to preg-nant women. Research will also be conducted on the “Superwoman Syn-drome”. The purpose of this research is to provide information on how to de-crease the infant mortality rate of African-Americans in particular, and the United States IMR in general.
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    RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN LIFESTYLE: EFFECTS ON INFANT MORTALITY
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2011-04-08) Whitson, Tyra L.; Daskalos, Janet