Cumulative Disadvantage or Strained Advantage? Remote Schooling, Paid Work Status, and Parental Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents experienced difficulties around employment and children's schooling, likely with detrimental mental health implications. We analyze National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data (N = 2,829) to estimate depressive symptom changes from 2019 to 2021 by paid work status and children's schooling modality, considering partnership status, gender, and race-ethnicity differences. We draw on cumulative disadvantage theory alongside strained advantage theory to test whether mental health declines were steeper for parents with more disadvantaged statuses or for parents with more advantaged statuses. Parents with work disruptions, without paid work, or with children in remote school experienced the greatest increases in depressive symptoms, with steepest increases among single parents without paid work and single parents with children in remote school (cumulative disadvantage), fathers without paid work (strained advantage), and White parents with remote school (strained advantage). We discuss the uneven impacts of the pandemic on mental health and implications for long-term health disparities.

Black feminist theory in maternal health research: A review of concepts and future directions

Black maternal health and well-being has become a necessary focal point for health researchers due to higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity for Black women. However, what is often absent from this scholarship within medical sociology is Black Feminist Theory as a framework for understanding Black women's health and well-being. Drawing on Black feminist and maternal health scholarship, I argue that integrating Black feminist approaches in maternal health research expands our understandings of what processes and mechanisms are impacting the health and well-being of Black mothers, while also highlighting the importance of maternal health research that solely centers Black women. Specifically, I focus on three concepts of Black Feminist Theory as it relates to Black maternal health research: (1) examining Black women's standpoint as credible, (2) acknowledging the historical context of multiple systems of oppression against Black women, and (3) incorporating a perspective that acknowledges both disadvantages, as well as empowerment, in the lives of Black women. I end this review with a discussion of future directions for sociological research in maternal health, including the importance of acknowledging how Black mothers are both impacted by, and resisting, social structures that may add nuance to our current understandings of Black maternal health and well-being.

Racial Disparities in Emotional Well-Being during Pregnancy

In light of persistent racial disparities in maternal and child health, it is important to understand the dynamics shaping outcomes for black mothers. We examine racial patterns in women's emotional well-being regarding pregnancy (i.e., women's reported happiness to be pregnant), which has been shown to have health consequences. Using the 2002-2017 National Survey of Family Growth (N = 6,163 pregnancies ending in birth), we find that black women are less happy about their pregnancies than white women both for intended and mistimed pregnancies. The happiness gap in intended pregnancies is partially attributable to differences in economic strain and partner support. In addition, child gender shapes happiness differently by race: Black women who previously had sons are unhappier about current intended pregnancies than those who did not (with no difference for white women). We argue there are pregnancy- and parenthood-related stressors that disproportionately impact black women, with potential implications for mothers and children.

Effects of morphine on T-cell recirculation in rhesus monkeys

A 2-yr study on effects of morphine on lymphocyte circulation in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) showed that, over time, a well-maintained morphine-dependency caused biphasic depressive effects on circulating lymphocyte levels. Depression of T cell circulation by opiates actually was a relative effect. Morphine exposure basically stabilized T cell circulation in the context of concurrent increases in controls. Biphasic effects of morphine were attributable to distinctions in circulation kinetics of CD4+/CD62L (+ & -) T cells. That is, levels of CD4+/CD62L+ T cells were selectively depressed by opiates through the first 32wk after initiation of drug, and levels of CD4+/CD62L- T cells were selectively depressed thereafter. Regression analyses also showed that morphine stabilized lymphocyte recirculation. Circulating levels of resting and activated-memory types of T cells were positively correlated in opiate-exposed monkeys during the first 32wk after opiate exposure--an effect not seen with control monkeys. Considerations of changes in the types of experimental stressors extant during the study suggested that temporally differential effects of opiates on T cell recirculation were connected with changes in the stress environment and the ability of morphine to modulate these changes. Thus, morphine, and by inference the endogenous opioid system, are involved in homeostasis of lymphocyte recirculation, probably through effects on central mediation of the stress axis.

Evaluation of feedback-reduction algorithms for hearing aids

Three adaptive feedback-reduction algorithms were implemented in a laboratory-based digital hearing aid system and evaluated with dynamic feedback paths and hearing-impaired subjects. The evaluation included measurements of maximum stable gain and subjective quality ratings. The continuously adapting CNN algorithm (Closed-loop processing with No probe Noise) provided the best performance: 8.5 dB of added stable gain (ASG) relative to a reference algorithm averaged over all subjects, ears, and vent conditions. Two intermittently adapting algorithms, ONO (Open-loop with Noise when Oscillation detected) and ONQ (Open-loop with Noise when Quiet detected), provided an average of 5 dB of ASG. Subjects with more severe hearing losses received greater benefits: 13 dB average ASG for the CNN algorithm and 7-8 dB average ASG for the ONO and ONQ algorithms. These values are conservative estimates of ASG because the fitting procedure produced a frequency-gain characteristic that already included precautions against feedback. Speech quality ratings showed no substantial algorithm effect on pleasantness or intelligibility, although subjects informally expressed strong objections to the probe noise used by the ONO and ONQ algorithms. This objection was not reflected in the speech quality ratings because of limitations of the experimental procedure. The results clearly indicate that the CNN algorithm is the most promising choice for adaptive feedback reduction in hearing aids.