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Dating rituals include dating--courtship methods that are regularly enacted. This study explores gender and race differences in the relative importance placed on certain symbolic activities previously identified by the dating literature as constituting such rituals. Using information collected from a racially diverse sample of college students (N = 680), it is found that some traditional gender differences persist, but that these are also cross-cut by racial contrasts. Men, overall, place more emphasis on gifting, as well as sexual activity. Gender differences, however, are significantly greater among African Americans as compared with Whites in the sample studied. African American respondents are also significantly more likely than White respondents to associate meeting the family with a more serious dating relationship. The findings highlight the need for greater efforts to uncover and account for racial differences in dating, relationships, and courtship. (Contains 5 tables and 11 notes.)

Despite improvements in the status of Blacks and women over the past 30 years, racial and gender disparities in mortality and morbidity persist. Using General Social Survey (GSS) data from 1974 to 2004, the authors explore the extent to which race, gender, and socioeconomic status converge to produce differences in self-assessed health. The intersectionality paradigm is used to guide this work on health disparities. The authors find that the gender gap in self-assessed health has narrowed significantly over this 30-year time period. This decreased gap is especially pronounced because of the marked improvement over time in Black women's reports of their health. However, Black women continue to report the lowest levels of self-assessed health even in 2004. In fact, Black women who hold a college degree report worse health than White men, White women, and Black men with a high school diploma. Keywords: health; disparity; race; gender; intersectionality

There are several challenges facing scholars studying health inequalities among minority populations. Primary among these challenges are developing adequate measures of social inequality and introducing appropriate strategies for eliminating health disparities. More research is sorely needed on both of these fronts as evidenced by the health paradox facing black, middle class men and women. This effort, however, can best move the study of health inequalities forward when juxtaposed against theoretical paradigms that embrace the complexity of the intersection of race, class, and gender.

This analysis examines the association between race and satisfaction with physicians among a sample of community-dwelling older adults. It is hypothesized that minority elderly will hold more negative attitudes toward physicians than will their White peers due to the difficulty in establishing rapport in the physician-patient relationship. Using data from the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (Duke), we find that African Americans believe that physicians do not display much compassion for, and respect toward, the elderly. However, African Americans report more positive attitudes about the prudence of physicians. These findings are discussed in the context of improving the physician-patient relationship., Despite widespread interest in the relationship between patient characteristics and satisfaction with the medical field, very little of this empirical work focuses on the elderly. In general, older adults are [...]

We examine the psychological impact of a range of social identities among a sample of African American women. Using data from the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA), we find that measures of body image, role performance, discrimination, and social class position are related to mental health status. Women of lower social class standing are especially at risk for poor mental health outcomes. Having low educational attainment, low personal incomes, and less prestigious occupations is associated with a poor self-concept (self-esteem and self-efficacy). Women with low self-concepts, in turn, report poorer mental health. We argue that African American women face multilayered realities that may compromise their abilities to handle the stresses of everyday life. KEYWORDS. Identity, social class, discrimination, mental health, self-concept

Purpose - The chapter revisits and updates an earlier analysis to assess the extent to which sociological social psychology's treatment of race has changed since 2000, and evaluates the degree to which issues of inter-sectionality and sexuality are engaged in social psychological scholarship. Design/methodology/approach - The chapter provides a content analysis of articles published between 2000 and 2012 in Social Psychology Quarterly, a leading journal in sociological social psychology, and of chapters published in two influential handbooks in social psychology. Findings - It documents a notable increase in the percentage of articles in Social Psychology Quarterly in which race/ethnicity is referred to, inclu-ded in the analysis, or seriously engaged. Patterns vary by methodological approach used in these articles. Social psychological attention to intersectionality and sexuality, as measured by the percentage of articles that broach these topics, is minimal. Research limitations/implications - This chapter restricts its analysis to the leading journal in sociological social psychology, but still demon-strates that there is potential for greater movement toward the incor-poration of race/ethnicity, intersectionality, and sexuality in social psychological scholarship. Originality/value - It calls attention to core topics in sociology that would benefit from greater scholarly engagement by social psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Utilizing the intersectionality framework, this study examines how a racially diverse group of adults aim to balance work-family life. Methodology/approach - This chapter uses qualitative data from the Intersections of Family, Work, and Health Study consisting of 132 black, white, and Mexican-American adults. Findings - We find that socioeconomic status and marriage provide social and economic capital to more easily fulfill role obligations. Individuals with more capital have more choices and are offered a chess board and a variety of pieces to facilitate the goal of creating work-family harmony. Individuals with less capital end up with less job flexibility and play checkers through rigid concrete roles because work decisions are in the hands of their employers instead of their own. Social implications - This chapter sheds light on the influence of high social status and the ability some individuals have to maximize both job flexibility and autonomy in managing work-family life. As we show here, married middle-class whites are able to manage work-family life better than professional black single mothers and working class Mexican Americans by having the ability to choose to play checkers or chess. Originality/value of chapter - We argue that the concept of "balancing" does little to express the ways individuals negotiate the constraints of work and family. By using an intersectionality perspective, we show that conceptualizing work-family life as "checkers or chess" games allow for the cognitive process of decision making (in terms of, for example, time pressures and perceived role demands) to be assessed more efficiently across work-family domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze data from the South African Stress and Health Study, a nationally representative in-person psychiatric epidemiologic survey of 4,351 adults conducted as part of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative between January 2002 and June 2004. All blacks (Africans, Coloreds, and Indians) initially report higher levels of non-specific distress and anger/hostility than whites. Access to socioeconomic resources helps explain differences in non-specific distress between Coloreds and whites and Indians and whites. However, only when social stressors are considered do we find few differences in psychological distress (i.e., non-specific distress and anger/hostility) between Africans and whites. In addition, self-esteem and mastery have independent effects on non-specific distress and anger/hostility, but differences between Coloreds and whites in feelings of anger/hostility are not completely explained by self-esteem and mastery. The findings contribute to the international body of work on social stress theory, challenge underlying assumptions of the minority status perspective, and raise a series of questions regarding mental health disparities among South Africans. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents findings from a wide range of studies on sibling relationships. It notes that familism is a strong identification and attachment of individuals with their families and strong feelings of loyalty, reciprocity and solidarity among members of the same family. It stresses that learning to interact and get along with siblings enhances social cognitive development as well as conflict resolution skills. Siblings appear to be an important source of companionship, friendship, comfort and affection as families grow and traverse the family life cycle.

There is an on-going debate among life course scholars regarding the extent to which the life course is becoming more individualized. Before speaking on this issue, however, more information is needed regarding the actual structure of the life course. We define that structure in terms of the occurrence of role transitions and the order in which these transitions are experienced. Using current and retrospective life history information reported in the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), we focus on the distribution of work and family role transitions and then examine the order (or sequencing) in which these social roles are both acquired and lost across the life course, paying particular attention to gender and racioethnic variation. Findings suggest that most adults are situated in three role positions: married, working parent. Yet, men are more likely than women to be working and African-American and Latino women are more likely to be in parenting roles. In an examination of role sequencing, evidence was found for a "normative" life course where most adults first find work, then marry, and later have children. Despite this prevalent pattern, more variation in sequencing behavior is evident among women and ethnic minorities. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the individualization hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]