Open AccessAssociations of Abdominal Fat With Perceived Racism and Passive Emotional Responses to Racism in African American Women
Author(s) -
Anissa I. Vines,
Donna D. Baird,
June Stevens,
Irva HertzPicciotto,
Kathleen C. Light,
Maya McNeilly
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2005.080663
Subject(s) - racism , medicine , body mass index , demography , stressor , odds ratio , logistic regression , waist–hip ratio , confidence interval , population , gerontology , waist , clinical psychology , environmental health , gender studies , sociology
An excess in abdominal fat may predispose African American women to chronic health conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Because stress may increase body fat in the center-body region, we used the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) to examine associations between excess abdominal fat and perceived racism (a chronic stressor) and daily stress. Passive emotional responses to perceived racism, hypothesized to have particularly adverse effects, were also examined.