BACKGROUND African American women have a lower incidence but a higher mortality from breast carcinoma than Caucasians. A proposed explanation for this discrepancy is the decreased efficacy of screening among African American women. Increased breast density in African American women may result in decreased sensitivity of mammography. The purpose of this article is to determine whether there is a...

The spectrum of mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 among African Americans has not been well characterized because most studies to date have been done in Caucasian families. According to Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc., only approximately 3% of individuals undergoing BRCA1/BRCA2 testing reported African American ancestry. Data from previous studies show that among African American women a greater p...

The authors examined how numbers of live births and pregnancy losses affected the self-rated health and depressive symptoms of women aged 50 years and older, contrasting African Americans and Whites. The authors used data from Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, a large, prospective study with substantial minority representation. They tested hypotheses that childbearing history variables would...

In response to the disproportionate rates and staggering effects of HIV/AIDS in the African American community, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have initiated a heightened national response to address this crisis by developing prevention interventions for African Americans. Because HIV risk behaviors often originate in youth, intensifying prevention efforts with youth provi...

OBJECTIVE This article examines ethnic similarities and differences in profiles of mother-child interaction qualities for low-income African American and Latin American mothers and associations with preschoolers' emerging school readiness. DESIGN Videotaped mother-child interactions were collected at age 2.5 years from a sample of African American (n = 192) and Latin American (n = 210) famili...

BACKGROUND As part of qualitative research for developing a culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate videotape-based HIV prevention intervention for heterosexual African- American men, six focus groups were conducted with thirty African-American men to determine their perceptions of AIDS as a threat to the African-American community, characteristics of past situations that have plac...

BACKGROUND Breast cancer mortality rates are higher among African-American women compared with white American women, yet little is known regarding ethnicity-related variation in patterns of primary surgical treatment, locoregional recurrence rates, and response to induction chemotherapy. METHODS The available literature was reviewed to evaluate outcome from breast-conservation therapy in Afri...

African-American women face stereotypes in their everyday lives. Since stigmas and stereotypes are socially constructed and historically situated (Crocker et al., 1998), they are also fluid and constantly evolving. One of the major areas African-American women encounter stigmatization is with their physical appearance. Researchers find that Eurocentric beauty ideals are not only prevalent, but ...

PURPOSE A major limitation of studies reporting a lower prevalence rate of human papilloma virus (HPV) in African American patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OPSCC) than Caucasian Americans, with corresponding worse outcomes, was adequate representation of HPV-positive African American patients. This study examined survival outcomes in HPV-positive and HPV-negative African Americ...

Church communities are increasingly recognized as promising venues to reach African Americans regarding health matters. The church has been a pillar of strength and empowerment in the African American community since slavery, acting as the center for education, business, political activism, and religious exhortation.1 Because church pastors are respected gatekeepers, they are particularly well-...