Racism-related stress and birth outcomes among Latinas: New tools for maximizing conceptual and methodological validity

项目总结/摘要 尽管存在众所周知的拉丁裔出生悖论，但最近的数据（2020年）显示，拉丁裔母亲是 与白色母亲相比，更有可能有低出生体重的婴儿。此外，与白色相比， 从1989年到2020年的年度国家生命统计数据显示， 拉丁裔的生育结果。长期以来对拉丁裔出生悖论的关注， 文献，导致迫切需要研究拉丁美洲人面临的出生结果差异， 推动这些差异的机制。我们提出了两种新的机制，作为贡献者贫穷的出生 拉丁裔的结果：预期的种族主义威胁和地区一级的种族偏见。大量证据表明 长期的社会压力和不良的生育结果之间的联系。种族歧视，一种慢性病 社会心理压力是出生结果中种族/民族差异的一个突出解释。然而，在这方面， 由于主要侧重于个人层面的种族主义事件和种族主义经历，证据有限。 我们以前开发并验证了一种衡量非裔美国人预期种族主义威胁（aRT）的方法。 发现与高血压、非稳态负荷和端粒长度有关。这些初步 研究表明，除了实际的种族主义事件之外，对种族主义的预期与生物学有关。 失调，包括以前与低出生体重有关的系统失调， 早产种族主义压力的另一个被忽视的组成部分是地区一级的种族偏见。新兴 有证据表明，消极的地区种族情绪和出生结果之间存在显着联系， 种族/少数民族群体。K99阶段的具体目标是：1）创造和心理测量 验证aRT-Latina量表和2）检查近年来低出生体重和早产的相关性 拉丁母亲R 00阶段的目标包括开发和测试小说之间的关联， 县一级对拉丁裔的地区种族偏见指标和拉丁裔之间的县一级出生结果。 拟议研究的预期影响是重新关注拉丁美洲人的不良生育结果， 一个长期存在的差异，但在很大程度上被忽视的调查领域;有助于阐明一些预测因素 以及导致这些差异的潜在机制;并最终告知可能采取的干预措施类型 来改善这些差异。这些数据也将为后续的R 01应用提供初步数据。 我们的中心假设是，更高的预期种族主义威胁和更消极的地区层面的种族偏见， 拉丁语将预测更糟糕的出生结果（即，低出生体重和早产）。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Despite the well-known Latina birth paradox, recent data (2020) show that Latina mothers are 1.2-1.5 times more likely to have low birth weight infants compared to White mothers. Additionally, compared to White women, annual national vital statistics data from 1989 through 2020 show consistently higher rates of worse birth outcomes among Latinas. The longstanding focus on the Latina birth paradox has left a gap in the literature, resulting in a critical need for research on birth outcome disparities faced by Latinas, and the mechanisms driving those disparities. We propose two novel mechanisms as contributors to poor birth outcomes for Latinas: anticipatory racism threat and area-level racial bias. A strong body of evidence has demonstrated links between chronic social stress and poor birth outcomes. Racial discrimination, a chronic psychosocial stressor, is a prominent explanation for racial/ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. However, evidence is limited by the predominant focus on racism events and racism experiences at the individual-level. We previously developed and validated a measure of anticipatory racism threat (aRT) for African American women and found associations with hypertension, allostatic load and telomere length. These preliminary studies suggest that anticipating racism, above and beyond actual racism events, is related to biological dysregulation, including dysregulation of systems that have previously been linked with low birthweight and preterm birth. Another neglected component of racism-related stress is area-level racial bias. Emerging evidence demonstrates significant links between negative area-level racial sentiment and birth outcomes for racial/ethnic minorities groups. The specific objectives of the K99 phase are to 1) create and psychometrically validate an aRT-Latina scale and 2) examine associations with low birth weight and preterm birth in recent Latina mothers. R00 phase objectives include developing and testing associations between a novel county-level indicator of area-level racial bias towards Latines and county-level birth outcomes among Latinas. The expected impact of the proposed research is re-focusing attention on poor birth outcomes among Latinas, a long-standing disparity but largely neglected area of investigation; helping to elucidate some of the predictors and underlying mechanisms driving those disparities; and ultimately informing the types of interventions likely to ameliorate those disparities. These data will also provide preliminary data for a subsequent R01 application. Our central hypothesis is that higher anticipatory racism threat and more negative area-level racial bias toward Latines will predict worse birth outcomes (i.e., low birth weight and pre-term birth) for Latina mothers.