RACISM, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND ALCOHOL USE AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

对美国人健康的两个主要威胁是高血压。 压力和酗酒。有充分的证据表明，高血压 压力与某些形式的高速率线性相关， 冠心病与脑卒中的关系 高血压和死亡率之间的联系在非洲人中尤其明显 美国人此外，非裔美国人酗酒者可能会比 比白色酗酒者血压升高的风险， 饮酒生涯延长。 压力源，或者说问题和压力 长期以来一直被怀疑是与这两种疾病有关的罪魁祸首 高血压和酗酒。据报道， 作为今天非裔美国人面临的主要压力源。几 研究已经描述了潜在的破坏性的社会，经济， 种族主义的政治后果及其对 个人幸福感（Jaynes &威廉姆斯，1989; Katz & Taylor，1988; Schuman，Steeth，& Bobo，1985）。流行病学的最新研究 文献表明，长期受到种族主义的压力， 偏见和歧视可能会导致 非洲高血压发病率高得不成比例 美国人社会支持被认为是一种缓冲机制， 改善或减轻有害影响的效果 强调身心健康。许多流行病学研究 表明社会支持与降低发病率有关， 死亡率，特别是心血管疾病。但大多数 这些研究的重点是美国的白色人群， 美国、西欧和斯堪的纳维亚。本研究建议， 调查种族主义/歧视，社会支持，酒精使用， 从随机样本中抽取的受试者的血压 纽约伊利县住户调查。总体而言， 三波数据可用于横截面和 纵向数据分析。具体目标是：（l）审查 种族主义对非裔美国人饮酒和BP的影响; (2)为了确定社会支持是否缓冲了这些关系， 调查社会网络措施与社会 支持;和（3）评估年龄，性别和 社会经济地位对上述关系。

Two of the leading threats to american health are high blood pressure and alcohol-abuse. It is well documented that high blood pressure is linearly related to higher rates of certain forms of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, and the relationship between hypertension and mortality is especially strong for African Americans. Moreover, African Americans alcoholics may run a greater risk than white alcoholics for blood pressure elevations as their drinking careers lengthen. Stressors, or the problems and pressures of life, have long been suspected as culprits linked to both hypertension and alcohol abuse. Racism has been reported to prevail as a primary stressor facing African Americans today. Several studies have described the potentially damaging social, economic, and political consequences of racism and its negative effects on individual well-being (Jaynes & Williams, 1989; Katz & Taylor, 1988; Schuman, Steeth, & Bobo, 1985). Recent studies from epidemiological literature have suggested that exposure to chronic stress of racism, prejudice, and discrimination may contribute to the disproportionately high rates of hypertension among African Americans. Social support has been purported to exert a buffering effect in ameliorating or attenuating the deleterious effects of stress on physical and mental health . Many epidemiological studies suggest that social support is related to reduced morbidity and mortality, particularly for cardiovascular disease. However, most of these studies have focused on white populations in the United States, Western Europe, and Scandinavia. This study proposes to investigate racism/discrimination, social support, alcohol use, and blood pressure in subjects that were drawn from a random sample survey of household residents in Erie county, New York. Overall, three waves of data are available for both cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis. The specific aims are: (l) To examine the influence of racism on alcohol use and BP in African Americans; (2) To determine if social support buffers these relations and investigate the relation between social network measures and social support; and (3) To assess the effects of age, gender, and socioeconomic status on the above relations.