African American Families (african + american_family)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


African American Therapists Working With African American Families: An Exploration of the Strengths Perspective in Treatment

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2009
LaVerne Bell-Tolliver
With the exception of Hill's (1971, 1999) work, historically much of the literature on African American families has focused more on pathology than strengths. This study used interviews with 30 African American psychotherapists, self-identified as employing a strengths perspective with African American families, to investigate which strengths they identified in the families and how they use those strengths in therapy. Themes emerging from data analysis confirmed the continued importance of the five strengths Hill noted. In addition, two new strengths were identified by the participants: a willingness of a greater number of families to seek therapy, and the importance of family structure. Strategies used in engaging the families in therapy and practice implications for family therapists are discussed. [source]


Preferences, Knowledge, Communication and Patient-Physician Discussion of Living Kidney Transplantation in African American Families

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 6 2005
L. Ebony Boulware
It is unknown whether patient-physician discussion about live kidney transplantation (LT) among African Americans (AA) is affected by preferences, knowledge and family discussions regarding LT. We recruited 182 AA dialysis patients and their families and assessed the relation of preferences, knowledge and family discussions regarding LT to the occurrence of patient-physician discussion using multivariable logistic regression. Most patients (76%) desired a transplant, and most patients (93%), spouses (91%) and children (88%) had knowledge of LT. Nearly half of the families discussed transplantation. Only 68% of patients and less than half of their spouses (41%) and children (31%) had discussed transplantation with physicians. Patient-physician discussion was more common among patients: whose spouses acknowledged their interest in transplantation (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) (95% CI):3.5 (1.61,7.8)); who discussed transplantation with spouses (AOR(95% CI):5.25 (2.22,12.41)); whose spouses agreed that they discussed transplantation with patients (AOR (95%CI):5.20 (1.76,15.37)) and whose children discussed transplantation with patients' physicians (AOR (95%CI):7.4 (1.3,40.0)). Universal patient-physician discussion of LT does not occur despite patient preferences. Rates of family-physician discussions are low, and rates of family discussions vary. Early family-physician discussion of LT, use of allied health professionals to promote family discussion of LT and the institution of culturally appropriate programs to enhance discussion of LT in AA families could improve rates of discussion and enhance patients' access to LT. [source]


Loci Contributing to Adult Height and Body Mass Index in African American Families Ascertained for Type 2 Diabetes

ANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 5 2005
M.M. Sale
Summary Height and body mass index (BMI) have high heritability in most studies. High BMI and reduced height are well-recognized as important risk factors for a number of cardiovascular diseases. We investigated these phenotypes in African American families originally ascertained for studies of linkage with type 2 diabetes using self-reported height and weight. We conducted a genome wide scan in 221 families containing 580 individuals and 672 relative pairs of African American descent. Estimates of heritability and support for linkage were assessed by genetic variance component analyses using SOLAR software. The estimated heritabilities for height and BMI were 0.43 and 0.64, respectively. We have identified major loci contributing to variation in height on chromosomes 15 (LOD = 2.61 at 35 cM, p = 0.0004), 3 (LOD = 1.82 at 84 cM, p = 0.0029), 8 (LOD = 1.92 at 135 cM, p = 0.0024) and 17 (LOD = 1.70 at 110 cM, p = 0.0044). A broad region on chromosome 4 supported evidence of linkage to variation in BMI, with the highest LOD = 2.66 at 168 cM (p = 0.0005). Two height loci and two BMI loci appear to confirm the existence of quantitative trait loci previously identified by other studies, providing important replicative data to allow further resolution of linkage regions suitable for positional cloning of these cardiovascular disease risk loci. [source]


Genetics of the apnea hypopnea index in Caucasians and African Americans: I. Segregation analysis

GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 3 2002
Sarah G. Buxbaum
Abstract Differences in age of presentation and anatomic risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Caucasians and African Americans suggest possible racial differences in the genetic underpinnings of the disorder. In this study, we assess transmission patterns in a Caucasian sample consisting of 177 families (N = 1,195) and in an African American sample consisting of 125 families (N = 720) for two variables: 1) apnea hypopnea index (AHI) log transformed and adjusted for age, and 2) AHI log transformed and adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI). We allowed for residual familial correlations and sex-specific means in all models. Analysis of the Caucasian sample showed transmission patterns consistent with that of a major gene that were stronger in the age-adjusted variable than in the age- and BMI-adjusted variable. However, in the African American families, adjusting for BMI in addition to age gave stronger evidence for segregation of a codominant gene with an allele frequency of 0.14, accounting for 35% of the total variance. These results provide support for an underlying genetic basis for OSA that in African Americans is independent of the contribution of BMI. Genet. Epidemiol. 22:243,253, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Postneonatal mental and motor development of infants exposed in utero to opioid drugs

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2001
Sydney L. Hans
We compared the mental and motor development of 33 infants from innercity, African American families whose mothers used opioid drugs during pregnancy with that of 45 infants from demographically comparable families where the mothers were not users of opioids. We found that during the first 2 years of life, the children exposed to opioid drugs showed poorer functioning on Bayley Scales mental and psychomotor development indices as well as on Infant Behavior Record ratings of mental and motor functioning. Although both groups of children performed in the normal range during infancy, both groups showed sharp declines in their developmental scores during the second year of life relative to norms. The poorer performance of the opioid-exposed group in mental development was related to social-environmental risk factors; in psychomotor development, to reduced birth weight. © 2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source]


African American Therapists Working With African American Families: An Exploration of the Strengths Perspective in Treatment

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2009
LaVerne Bell-Tolliver
With the exception of Hill's (1971, 1999) work, historically much of the literature on African American families has focused more on pathology than strengths. This study used interviews with 30 African American psychotherapists, self-identified as employing a strengths perspective with African American families, to investigate which strengths they identified in the families and how they use those strengths in therapy. Themes emerging from data analysis confirmed the continued importance of the five strengths Hill noted. In addition, two new strengths were identified by the participants: a willingness of a greater number of families to seek therapy, and the importance of family structure. Strategies used in engaging the families in therapy and practice implications for family therapists are discussed. [source]


PARTNERING WITH COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS: ENGAGING RURAL AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES IN BASIC RESEARCH AND THE STRONG AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION PROGRAM

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2004
Velma McBride Murry
The Center for Family Research has implemented the first family-community preventive intervention program designed specifically for rural African American families and youths. Basic information garnered during a decade of research in rural African American communities formed the theoretical and empirical foundations for the program, which focuses on delaying the onset of sexual activity and discouraging substance use among youths. The Center's researchers have formulated future directions for engaging rural families in basic research and preventive intervention programs. [source]


African American Adolescent Girls in Impoverished Communities: Parenting Style and Adolescent Outcomes

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 2 2001
Laura D. Pittman
The relationship between parenting style and adolescent functioning was examined in a sample of 302 African American adolescent girls and their mothers who lived in impoverished neighborhoods. Although previous research has found that authoritative parenting, as compared with authoritarian, permissive, and disengaged parenting, is associated with positive adolescent outcomes in both European American, middle-class and large multiethnic school-based samples, these parenting categories have not been fully explored in African American families living at or near poverty level. Data were collected from adolescent girls and their self-identified mothers or mother figures using in-home interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Parenting style was found to be significantly related to adolescent outcome in multiple domains including externalizing and internalizing behaviors, academic achievement, work orientation, sexual experience, and pregnancy history. Specifically, teens whose mothers were disengaged (low on both parental warmth and supervision/monitoring) were found to have the most negative outcomes. [source]


Heritability of platelet function in families with premature coronary artery disease

JOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS, Issue 8 2007
P. F. BRAY
Summary.,Background:,Variations in platelet function among individuals may be related to differences in platelet-related genes. The major goal of our study was to estimate the contribution of inheritance to the variability in platelet function in unaffected individuals from white and African American families with premature coronary artery disease.Methods:,Platelet reactivity, in the absence of antiplatelet agents, was assessed by in vitro aggregation and the platelet function analyzer closure time. Heritability was estimated using a variance components model.Results:,Both white (n = 687) and African American (n = 321) subjects exhibited moderate to strong heritability (h2) for epinephrine- and adenosine diphosphate-induced aggregation (0.36,0.42 for white and >0.71 for African American subjects), but heritability for collagen-induced platelet aggregation in platelet-rich plasma was prominent only in African American subjects. Platelet lag phase after collagen stimulation was heritable in both groups (0.47,0.50). A limited genotype analysis demonstrated that the C825T polymorphism of GNB3 was associated with the platelet aggregation response to 2 ,M epinephrine, but the effect differed by race.Conclusions:,Considering the few and modest genetic effects reported to affect platelet function, our findings suggest the likely existence of undiscovered important genes that modify platelet reactivity, some of which affect multiple aspects of platelet biology. [source]


Sharing information about peer relations: Parent and adolescent opinions and behaviors in Hmong and African American families

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 116 2007
B. Bradford Brown
Despite sharing similar attitudes regarding the information about peers that parents have a right to know, the strategies African American and Hmong families use to seek or censor information about peers diverge because of ethnic differences in emphasis on trust, nurturing autonomy, respect for parental authority, and maintaining cultural traditions. [source]


Familial myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy: A report of eight African American families,

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
Maneesh Jain
Previous descriptions of familial myeloma have been mainly of Caucasian families. We report here eight African American families with familial multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy identified over a 30 year period. Six patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and two with monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance (MGUS) reported a family history of MM or had family members with MGUS found on screening. A pedigree compiled for each family included a history of other cancers. In the eight families, 21 of 58 first degree relatives had a plasma cell dyscrasia including 12 MM, eight MGUS, and one amyloidosis patient(s). The age of the MM patients ranged from 50 to 78 years (median 61 years). Four families had two members with MM, including one mother,son and three sibling pairs. Two MM families each had two additional first degree relatives with MGUS, with three generations involved in one family. Anticipation was suggested in two families with parent,child pairs with monoclonal gammopathy. The eight pedigrees had 66 members, 21 of whom had a diagnosis of cancer, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Hodgkin disease, or a clonal myeloproliferative disorder other than MM. Although the mode of genetic transmission and anticipation cannot be confirmed due to the small sample size, the increased number of MM and MGUS family members suggests underlying genetic susceptibility factors for plasma cell dyscrasias and possibly for other cancers in these families. Am. J. Hematol., 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Promoting Infant Health Through Home Visiting By a Nurse-Managed Community Worker Team

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2001
Cynthia Barnes-Boyd R.N., Ph.D.
This article describes the Resources, Education and Care in the Home program (REACH-Futures), an infant mortality reduction initiative in the inner city of Chicago built on the World Health Organization (WHO) primary health care model and over a decade of experience administering programs to reduce infant mortality through home visits. The program uses a nurse-managed team, which includes community residents selected, trained, and integrated as health advocates. Service participants were predominately African American families. All participants were low-income and resided in inner-city neighborhoods with high unemployment, high teen birth rates, violent crime, and deteriorated neighborhoods. Outcomes for the first 666 participants are compared to a previous home-visiting program that used only nurses. Participant retention rates were equivalent overall and significantly higher in the first months of the REACH-Futures program. There were two infant deaths during the course of the study, a lower death rate than the previous program or the city. Infant health problems and developmental levels were equivalent to the prior program and significantly more infants were fully immunized at 12 months. The authors conclude that the use of community workers as a part of the home-visiting team is as effective as the nurse-only team in meeting the needs of families at high risk of poor infant outcomes. This approach is of national interest because of its potential to achieve the desired outcomes in a cost-effective manner. [source]


Loci Contributing to Adult Height and Body Mass Index in African American Families Ascertained for Type 2 Diabetes

ANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 5 2005
M.M. Sale
Summary Height and body mass index (BMI) have high heritability in most studies. High BMI and reduced height are well-recognized as important risk factors for a number of cardiovascular diseases. We investigated these phenotypes in African American families originally ascertained for studies of linkage with type 2 diabetes using self-reported height and weight. We conducted a genome wide scan in 221 families containing 580 individuals and 672 relative pairs of African American descent. Estimates of heritability and support for linkage were assessed by genetic variance component analyses using SOLAR software. The estimated heritabilities for height and BMI were 0.43 and 0.64, respectively. We have identified major loci contributing to variation in height on chromosomes 15 (LOD = 2.61 at 35 cM, p = 0.0004), 3 (LOD = 1.82 at 84 cM, p = 0.0029), 8 (LOD = 1.92 at 135 cM, p = 0.0024) and 17 (LOD = 1.70 at 110 cM, p = 0.0044). A broad region on chromosome 4 supported evidence of linkage to variation in BMI, with the highest LOD = 2.66 at 168 cM (p = 0.0005). Two height loci and two BMI loci appear to confirm the existence of quantitative trait loci previously identified by other studies, providing important replicative data to allow further resolution of linkage regions suitable for positional cloning of these cardiovascular disease risk loci. [source]


Middle-Class African American Adolescents' and Parents' Conceptions of Parental Authority and Parenting Practices: A Longitudinal Investigation

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2000
Judith G. Smetana
Conceptions of parental authority and ratings of parental rules and decision making were examined longitudinally among 82 middle-class African American adolescents and their parents (82 mothers and 52 fathers), who were divided into two groups according to family income. Adolescents were, on average, 13.14 years of age at Time 1 and 15.05 years of age at Time 2. Nearly all adolescents and parents affirmed parents' legitimate authority to regulate (and children's obligation to comply with) rules regarding moral, conventional, prudential, friendship, and multifaceted issues, but they were more equivocal in their judgments regarding personal issues. With age, adolescents increasingly judged personal issues to be beyond the bounds of legitimate parental authority, but judgments differed by family income. Adolescents from upper income families rejected parents' legitimate authority to regulate personal issues more at Time 1 than did adolescents from middle income families, but no differences were found at Time 2. Authority to regulate adolescents' behavior did not extend to other adults or to schools, churches, and the law. With adolescents' increasing age, African American families became less restrictive in regulating prudential, friendship, multifaceted, and personal issues. Adolescents', mothers', and fathers' judgments demonstrated significant continuity over time, but few cross- or within-generation associations in judgments were found. Conceptions of legitimate parental authority at Time 1 were found to predict family rules at Time 2. [source]