Abstract
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States, and compared to other racial and ethnic groups, Blacks between the ages of 45 and 65 have the highest likelihood of dying from heart disease. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about intragroup variation among the US Black population. In this study, utilizing a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, we examine the relationship between heart trouble and racial group identity for two groups of Blacks: African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. We include two measures of racial group identity: closeness to other Blacks and Black group evaluation. Our results reveal three important patterns. First, closeness to other Blacks is suppressed by Black group evaluation. Second, at low levels of closeness to other Blacks, there is little difference between African Americans and Caribbean Blacks in the probability of heart trouble. However, as closeness to other Blacks increases, the probability of heart trouble increases for African Americans, but decreases for Caribbean Blacks. Finally, with respect to positive Black group evaluation, both African Americans and Caribbean Blacks benefit and experience a lower probability of heart trouble.
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Acknowledgments
This research is supported in part by grant #68146 to the first author from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Address all correspondence to Helena E. Dagadu, Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University (email: helena.dagadu@vanderbilt.edu).
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Dagadu, H.E., Christie-Mizell, C.A. Heart Trouble and Racial Group Identity: Exploring Ethnic Heterogeneity Among Black Americans. Race Soc Probl 6, 143–160 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9109-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9109-7