"In the back of my mind": A Longitudinal Multiple Case Study Analysis of Successful Black Women Biomedical Graduate Students Navigating Gendered Racism

Black women in graduate school can experience stress due to blatant and subtle acts of gendered racism. However, we do not know how such stressors are navigated over time among those who successfully complete their PhDs. The current study used a Black feminist thought framework and narrative analysis to conduct a longitudinal exploration of how three successful Black women biomedical graduate students make sense of and respond to gendered racism they experienced and the coping strategies they employ as they persist. When interacting with others, the women experienced low expectations and doubts about being legitimate scientists. These experiences contributed to feelings of isolation, impacted their networking opportunities, and dampened their view of the desirability of an academic career postgraduation. Over time, their coping strategies for dealing with negative racial and gendered racial stereotypes and biases shifted from opting to "prove others wrong" or working harder, to leaning on their social networks for camaraderie and advice as well as choosing to not exert energy to form a response. Implications for mentoring and mentoring programs at the graduate level and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programming are discussed.

Racism's (un)worthiness trap: The mediating roles of self-compassion and self-coldness in the link between racism and distress in African Americans

OBJECTIVES

Racism is a key determinant of mental health for African Americans. Although research has started to uncover moderators and mediators of the racism-health link, additional research in this area is warranted. Constructs that have yet to be examined in this link are self-compassion and self-coldness-two distinct ways of relating to oneself during adversity.

METHOD

Data from 133 African American college students were used to assess parallel mediation models in which the frequency and stress appraisal of racism were the predictor variables, psychological distress was the outcome variable, and dimensions of self-compassion and self-coldness were treated as mediators.

RESULTS

Neither frequency nor appraisal of racism were related to the three types of self-compassion (i.e., self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness); yet, both racism frequency and appraisal were related to the three types of self-coldness (i.e., self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification). However, only self-judgment emerged as a significant mediator in the links between both frequency and appraisal of racism and distress, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Reducing self-coldness in the face of racism can be a promising, individual-level wellness strategy for African Americans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Factorial invariance of the Marianismo Beliefs Scale among Latinos in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study

OBJECTIVE

The Marianismo Beliefs Scale (MBS) assesses five components of marianismo, a cultural script of Latina gender role expectations. This study evaluated the MBS's psychometric properties across language, sex, and Latino subgroups (Mexican American, Central American, Cuban American, Dominican American, Puerto Rican, and South American).

METHOD

Study sample was derived from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sociocultural Ancillary Study which consisted of a community sample of 4879 Latino adults aged 18-64 from four field centers (Miami, FL, USA; San Diego, CA, USA; Bronx, NY, USA; Chicago, IL, USA).

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analyses supported five factors. English and Spanish versions demonstrated equivalence of factor loadings and error variances across Latino subgroups and sex.

CONCLUSION

Although the MBS English and Spanish versions are psychometrically sound measures for male and female Latino adults, future research is needed to determine whether direct scale scores are comparable.

The ASPET Mentoring Network: Enhancing Diversity and Inclusion through Career Coaching Groups within a Scientific Society

Over the past decades, two persisting priorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training have been: 1) increasing the knowledge of and access to careers beyond academic scientist; and 2) increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. Previous studies show that a uniquely constructed career coaching group provides strong support and progress for both priorities. This report extends this design into a more sustainable model that is positioned within the professional context of rising young scientists. This new model is based in the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)-the ASPET Mentoring Network. Groups of PhD students and postdocs were assigned to an ASPET professional (academic or other career) member (the coach) with an initial meeting held the day before the society's annual meeting. The coaching groups interacted during the meeting and then virtually for a year. Extensive survey and interview evaluation data gathered from the first three cohorts (12 coaching groups) in 2016- 2018 provided strong evidence of the perceived and real benefits of the network. This new version of career coaching groups is both feasible and linked to career success due to its close association with a scientific society, peers, and coaches who share scientific identities and aspirations.

Culturally aware mentorship: Lasting impacts of a novel intervention on academic administrators and faculty

National efforts to address the diversity dilemma in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) often emphasize increasing numbers of historically underrepresented (HU) students and faculty, but fall short in instituting concrete changes for inclusion and belonging. Therefore, increasing the pool of senior faculty who wish to become guides and advocates for emerging scientists from HU populations is an essential step toward creating new pathways for their career advancement. As a step toward achieving this goal, we created a novel eight-hour intervention on Culturally Aware Mentoring (CAM), a program of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) targeted to faculty and administrators. A previous report of surveys at the end of the CAM sessions revealed substantial awareness and knowledge gains, with participants expressing intentions to use and implement new skills they had learned. In this paper, we provide the results of our thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with academic administrators and faculty, 18-24 months after participation in CAM. Interviews were designed to determine: 1) What changes in self-perceptions and interactions occurred as a result of participation in CAM? 2) What specific components of CAM are associated with changes in individual beliefs and practices? 3) How did participants actively make changes after the CAM workshop? 4) What barriers or challenges do participants encounter after the CAM intervention? The results demonstrate the lasting influences of CAM on participants' awareness of cultural differences, their assumptions about and approaches toward interactions with colleagues and students, and their efforts to change their behaviors to promote inclusive practices in their mentoring and teaching of HU students in STEM. Our findings provide evidence that CAM can be incorporated into existing mentor training programs designed to improve the confidence and capacity of senior research faculty mentors to make culturally-informed, scholar-centered decisions to more deliberately recognize and respond to cultural differences within their mentoring and collegial relationships.

Assessment of the influence of food attributes on meal choice selection by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity among women living in Chicago, USA: A discrete choice experiment

Large and persistent obesity disparities exist in the US by socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnicity, and weight loss interventions have traditionally been less effective in these populations. Thus, a better understanding is needed of the behavioral, economic, and geographic factors that influence obesity risk factors such as eating behaviors. We used a discrete choice experiment to evaluate the impact of different meal attributes on meal choice and to test whether the relative importance of these attributes varied by SES and race/ethnicity. Study participants (n = 228) were given a series of 10 choice tasks and asked to choose among 4 meals, each rated based on the following attributes: taste; healthfulness; preparation time; travel time to food outlet for meal/ingredients; and price. SES was measured using education and self-reported difficulty paying for basics. Race/ethnicity was categorized as Hispanic/Latina, non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic other. Data were analyzed using mixed logit regression models with interaction terms to determine whether meal attributes influenced meal choices differentially by SES and race/ethnicity. Healthfulness and taste were the most important attributes for all participants. Price was a more important attribute among those in the lowest SES group compared with those in the higher SES groups. Travel was the least important attribute for low SES participants, and it was not significantly related to meal choice in these groups. Discrete choice experiments as illustrated here may help pinpoint the most salient targets for interventions to improve eating behaviors and reduce obesity disparities. Specifically, our findings suggest interventions should incorporate strategies to target the pricing of healthy and unhealthy food options.

Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention in a Jail Drug Treatment Program

BACKGROUND

More than half of prisoners in the United States are estimated to suffer from a substance use disorder. Mindfulness involves attention to the present moment, and nonjudgmental acceptance of sensations, thoughts, and emotional states. Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) following substance use disorder treatment has been shown to reduce substance use.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to adapt and test MBRP for a jail substance use disorder treatment setting.

METHODS

We enrolled successive cohorts of incarcerated men participating in a drug treatment program in a large urban jail (n = 189) into six weekly sessions of either MBRP or an comparison communication skills intervention, between 2013 and 2015. MBRP was delivered by a culturally competent African-American trainer. Pre- and post-test measures included mindfulness, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and drug craving.

RESULTS

At baseline, measures of mindfulness were significantly inversely correlated with anxiety, PTSD symptoms and drug cravings. Anxiety, PTSD symptoms and cravings declined significantly in both treatment arms, and mindfulness increased. Comparison of the two study arms using maximum likelihood estimation suggested a small but significantly greater increase in mindfulness in the treatment arm. Conclusions/Importance. An attention control trial of a mindfulness intervention, delivered by a culturally competent trainer, is feasible in a jail setting.

Pilot Study of an Intervention to Increase Cultural Awareness in Research Mentoring: Implications for Diversifying the Scientific Workforce

INTRODUCTION

Innovative evidence-based-interventions are needed to equip research mentors with skills to address cultural diversity within research mentoring relationships. A pilot study assessed initial outcomes of a culturally tailored effort to create and disseminate a novel intervention titled Culturally Aware Mentoring (CAM) for research mentors.

INTERVENTION

Intervention development resulted in four products: a 6hr CAM training curriculum, a facilitator guide, an online pre-training module, and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of CAM training.

METHOD

Participants were 64 research mentors from three US research-intensive universities. Quantitative pre and post-training evaluation survey data were collected.

RESULTS

Participants found high value and satisfaction with the CAM training, reported gains in personal cultural awareness and cultural skills, and increased intentions and confidence to address cultural diversity in their mentoring.

CONCLUSIONS

Study findings indicate that the CAM training holds promise to build research mentors' capacity and confidence to engage directly with racial/ethnic topics in research mentoring relationships.

Machismo, Marianismo, and Negative Cognitive-Emotional Factors: Findings From the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study

There is limited research on the traditional Hispanic male and female gender roles of machismo and marianismo, respectively, in relation to negative cognitions and emotions. Given the vulnerability of Hispanics to negative cognitions and emotions, it is important to examine sociocultural correlates of emotional distress. Therefore, we examined associations of machismo and marianismo with negative cognitive-emotional factors (i.e., depression symptoms; cynical hostility; and trait anxiety and anger) in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study, a cross-sectional cohort study of sociocultural and psychosocial correlates of cardiometabolic health. Participants were aged 18-74 years and self-identified as Hispanic of Central American, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South American, and other Hispanic background (N = 4,426). Results revealed that specific components of machismo (traditional machismo) and marianismo (family and spiritual pillar dimensions) were associated with higher levels of negative cognitions and emotions after adjusting for socio-demographic factors (p < .05); these associations remained consistent across sex, Hispanic background group, and acculturation. Findings can inform mental health interventions and contribute to our understanding of the importance of gender role socialization in the context of self-reported negative cognitive-emotional factors in Hispanics.

A Longitudinal Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Development of Metabolic Syndrome: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study

OBJECTIVE

Despite variability in the burden of elevated depressive symptoms by sex and race and differences in the incidence of metabolic syndrome, few prior studies describe the longitudinal association of depressive symptoms with metabolic syndrome in a diverse cohort. We tested whether baseline and time-varying depressive symptoms were associated with metabolic syndrome incidence in black and white men and women from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study.

METHODS

Participants reported depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale at four examinations between 1995 and 2010. At those same examinations, metabolic syndrome was determined. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the associations of depressive symptoms on the development of metabolic syndrome in 3208 participants without metabolic syndrome at baseline.

RESULTS

For 15 years, the incidence rate of metabolic syndrome (per 10,000 person-years) varied by race and sex, with the highest rate in black women (279.2), followed by white men (241.9), black men (204.4), and white women (125.3). Depressive symptoms (per standard deviation higher) were associated with incident metabolic syndrome in white men (hazard ratio = 1.25, 95% confidence interval = 1.08-1.45) and white women (hazard ratio = 1.17, 95% confidence interval = 1.00-1.37) after adjustment for demographic characteristics and health behaviors. There was no significant association between depression and metabolic syndrome among black men or black women.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher depressive symptoms contribute modestly to the onset of metabolic syndrome among white adults.

Relationship between perceived discrimination and sedentary behavior in adults

OBJECTIVE

To identify psychosocial factors associated with sedentary behavior, we tested whether perceived discrimination is associated with sedentary behavior.

METHODS

Black and white men and women (N = 3270) from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study reported experiences of discrimination and time engaged in total and screen time sedentary behaviors in 2010-11.

RESULTS

There were no associations of discriminatory experiences with total sedentary behavior time. However, discriminatory experiences were positively associated with screen time for black men (OR 1.81, 95% CI: 1.14, 2.86) and white women (OR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.14, 2.00) after adjusting for demographic and traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors.

CONCLUSION

Among black men and white women, discriminatory experiences were correlated with more screen time sedentary behavior.