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Despite recent critiques of contemporary obesity discourses that link 'modern Western lifestyles' to an 'obesity epidemic', the population's weight remains a central concern of current dietary guidelines. Food choices that are considered beneficial to maintaining a certain weight are understood to play a key role in one's health. This concern reflects medico-moral assumptions about the properties of food and what people should eat. However, the impact of obesity discourses on different individuals and social groups is rarely considered, although there is some evidence that people do generate, reflect and resist the norms and standards set for them, including those that relate to food/weight. In this paper, we will examine the perspectives on fatness and food choice amongst Black and White women and men living in Vancouver and Halifax, Canada. With this examination, we will challenge conventional assumptions about the singular 'modern Western lifestyle' that leads to obesity concerns by teasing out some of the social, cultural and political contexts within which people conceptualise issues regarding weight and make their food choices. By examining the experiences of both women and men we will also provide important insights into the gendered ways in which people engage with obesity discourses and the injunction to 'eat healthily' as a form of weight management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the stress process model with a sample of 475 Louisiana newlyweds, this research explores whether a more legally rigorous form of marriage (covenant marriage) substantially reduces depressive symptom disparities between Black and White spouses. Results suggest that Black and White wives share similar depressive symptom levels in the first few months of their marriage. Black husbands have higher levels of depression than White husbands. Life stressors substantially mediate the race gap in depressive symptoms for husbands, while buffers have little effect. After controlling for stressors, buffers and demographic measures, covenant marriage seems to buffer wives against depressive symptoms, though only weakly. For husbands, covenant marriage has no effect and does not reduce the race gap in depression. Thus, while covenant marriage may either select on wives with better mental health or buffer against depressive symptoms for some wives, covenant marriage does not have advantages for husbands, and especially distressed Black husbands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The down low has recently emerged as phenomenon where men have sex with men (MSM), but identify as 'heterosexual' or 'straight'. Although the down low has received considerable attention in United States media, little empirical research has sought to investigate this phenomenon beyond anecdotal evidence. Utilising data from the Urban Men's Health Study (UMHS) (n = 2881), this research offers a unique opportunity to investigate empirically claims of the down low beyond small opportunistic samples. We find significant support for the down low among Blacks and Latinos and its association with high-risk sexual behaviour. These findings highlight the need for future research that better understands the impact of the phenomenon within a cultural and community context [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]