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“It’s The Skin You’re In”: African-American Women Talk About Their Experiences of Racism. An Exploratory Study to Develop Measures of Racism for Birth Outcome Studies

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Abstract

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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Acknowledgements

Our thanks and appreciation also to the Measures of Racism Working Group: Vicki Alexander, MD, MPH, Lynda Dailey, PHN, and Tiffany Simpson, MHSA from the Berkeley Division of Public Health; Barbara Curry, MSW, and Cassius Lockett, PhD with the Sacramento Division of Public Health, and Twila Brown from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, who made important contributions to the design and conduct of this effort, including the content of the focus group guides. We would also like to thank Sheryl Walton, MPH for her contributions to developing the guide for the focus groups and for her support with recruitment and focus group facilitation. This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement TS-842 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program Health Disparities Working Group (UC San Francisco).

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Nuru-Jeter, A., Dominguez, T.P., Hammond, W.P. et al. “It’s The Skin You’re In”: African-American Women Talk About Their Experiences of Racism. An Exploratory Study to Develop Measures of Racism for Birth Outcome Studies. Matern Child Health J 13, 29–39 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-008-0357-x

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