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We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,679 ) to examine the impact of men's past military service on the likelihood that a couple will marry within 5 years of a nonmarital birth. Logistic regression analyses showed that men's past military service increased marriage odds by 54% for couples with Black fathers even after controlling for potential mediators. But veteran status had no effect on couples with White or Hispanic fathers. As a result, the large Black-White gap in postbirth marriage evident among couples with civilian fathers did not exist among couples with veteran fathers. Our findings bolster other evidence that military service exerts lasting and unique pro-marriage effects on Blacks.

This analysis uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to examine whether veteran and disability statuses are jointly associated with poverty and material hardship among households that include an older adult. Compared to households that do not include a person with a disability or veteran, disabled nonveteran households are more likely to be in poverty and to experience home hardship, medical hardship, and bill-paying hardship. Disabled veteran households are not significantly different in terms of poverty, but exhibit the highest odds of home hardship, medical hardship, bill-paying hardship, and food insufficiency. The implications for social work practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant racial disparities in health outcomes have been consistently documented in the United States. Life-course and population-health models are often used to explain these disparities, but they generally do not take incarceration effects into account. Incarceration may have direct effects on health, but it is more likely to indirectly affect health by shaping employment, income, and marital trajectories. The authors contend that the failure of health researchers to take incarceration effects into account is problematic given the large increase in the incarceration of Black men over the past few decades. Moreover, because large numbers of incarcerated Black men are not present in research samples, racial disparities in health outcomes may be underestimated. Incarceration effects should be included in life-course and population-health models, study designs, and policy development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines trends in HIV mortality in the United States, by race and sex, for the period from 1987 to 1991. It begins by adjusting the African American population for the Census undercount. It then examines the increase over time in overall and age-specific HIV death rates. Finally, using multiple-decrement life table techniques, it examines the age-specific probability of dying because of HIV and the impact of the elimination of HIV deaths on life expectancy at birth. In this analysis, data compiled by the National Centers for Health Statistics (NCHS) is employed. In 1987, the NCHS introduced new categories for classifying deaths attributable to HIV. The analysis shows a distinctive age pattern associated with HIV mortality. This distinctive age pattern results from the specific transmission dynamics of HIV, the concentration of behavioral patterns that lead to HIV infection in particular age groups, and the length of the period from initial HIV infection to death.

Diabetes is a leading cause for death in the United States, with African Americans (AA) being twice as likely to die from diabetes than White Americans (WA). AA are twice as likely to experience diabetes-related foot amputation due to foot ulcers, which are most often caused by high plantar pressure. While it is known that arch height, sex, family history of diabetes, Body Mass Index (BMI), age, and gait speed can impact plantar loading, there is a need to test the hypothesis that race in combination with the previously mentioned variables are significant predictors of plantar loading. To answer this question, plantar loading data was collected from 107 participants using an EMED pressure-measurement system (Novel Electronics, Inc, St Paul, MN, USA). Each participant walked barefoot at a self-selected walking pace ten times. Contact area, maximum force, and were force–time integral collected for each step on the pressure plate. A multiple linear regression was used to test if race, age, Arch Height Index (AHI), gait speed, sex assigned at birth, family history of diabetes, and BMI significantly predicted plantar loading. Race, age, AHI, gait speed, sex, and BMI were considered significant predictor variables for plantar loading. Most importantly, race was a significant predictor of maximum force in the hallux (β = 6.46, p < 0.001), rearfoot (β = -6.36, p < 0.001), and lateral midfoot (β = -2.72, p < 0.001), and the force–time integral in the hallux (β = 2.37, p < 0.001), rearfoot (β = -2.14, p < 0.001), and lateral midfoot (β = -0.65, p < 0.001). These findings could help with understanding why AA are more likely to develop diabetic foot ulcers than WA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]