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. 2016 Dec:2:425-435.
doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2016.04.011. Epub 2016 May 10.

(En)gendering Racial Disparities in Health Trajectories: A Life Course and Intersectional Analysis

Liana J Richardson  1 , Tyson H Brown  2
Affiliations

(En)gendering Racial Disparities in Health Trajectories: A Life Course and Intersectional Analysis

Liana J Richardson et al. SSM Popul Health. 2016 Dec.

Abstract

Historically, intersectionality has been an underutilized framework in sociological research on racial/ethnic and gender inequalities in health. To demonstrate its utility and importance, we conduct an intersectional analysis of the social stratification of health using the exemplar of hypertension-a health condition in which racial/ethnic and gender differences have been well-documented. Previous research has tended to examine these differences separately and ignore how the interaction of social status dimensions may influence health over time. Using seven waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study and multilevel logistic regression models, we found a multiplicative effect of race/ethnicity and gender on hypertension risk trajectories, consistent with both an intersectionality perspective and persistent inequality hypothesis. Group differences in past and contemporaneous socioeconomic and behavioral factors did not explain this effect.

Keywords: Gender; Health Inequalities; Intersectionality; Life Course; Race.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Predicted hypertension trajectories by race/ethnicity, gender, and age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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