Journal
MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH JOURNAL
Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages 29-39Publisher
SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS
DOI: 10.1007/s10995-008-0357-x
Keywords
Race; Racism; Birth outcomes; African-American women
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Funding
- EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT [R24HD042828] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NICHD NIH HHS [R24 HD042828-10, R24 HD042828] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMHD NIH HHS [L60 MD002605-01, L60 MD002605] Funding Source: Medline
- ATSDR CDC HHS [TS-842] Funding Source: Medline
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Objectives Stress due to experiences of racism could contribute to African-American women's adverse birth outcomes, but systematic efforts to measure relevant experiences among childbearing women have been limited. We explored the racism experiences of childbearing African-American women to inform subsequent development of improved measures for birth outcomes research. Methods Six focus groups were conducted with a total of 40 socioeconomically diverse African-American women of childbearing age in four northern California cities. Results Women reported experiencing racism (1) throughout the lifecourse, with childhood experiences seeming particularly salient and to have especially enduring effects (2) directly and vicariously, particularly in relation to their children; (3) in interpersonal, institutional, and internalized forms; (4) across different life domains; (5) with active and passive responses; and (6) with pervasive vigilance, anticipating threats to themselves and their children. Conclusions This exploratory study's findings support the need for measures reflecting the complexity of childbearing African-American women's racism experiences. In addition to discrete, interpersonal experiences across multiple domains and active/passive responses, which have been measured, birth outcomes research should also measure women's childhood experiences and their potentially enduring impact, perceptions of institutionalized racism and internalized negative stereotypes, vicarious experiences related to their children, vigilance in anticipating future racism events, as well as the pervasiveness and chronicity of racism exposure, all of which could be sources of ongoing stress with potentially serious implications for birth outcomes. Measures of racism addressing these issues should be developed and formally tested.
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