Ellen M. Granberg

Body Size and Social Self-Image Among Adolescent African American Girls The Moderating Influence of Family Racial Socialization

Social psychologists have amassed a large body of work demonstrating that overweight African American adolescent girls have generally positive self-images, particularly when compared with overweight females from other racial and ethnic groups. Some scholars have proposed that elements of African American social experience may contribute to the maintenance of these positive self-views. The article evaluates these arguments using data drawn from a panel study of socioeconomically diverse African American adolescent girls living in Iowa and Georgia. The article analyzes the relationship between body size and social self-image over three waves of data, starting when the girls were 10 years of age and concluding when they were approximately 14. The findings show that heavier respondents hold less positive social self-images; however, the findings also show that being raised in a family that practices racial socialization moderates this relationship.

Exploring the impact of skin tone on family dynamics and race-related outcomes.

Racism has historically been a primary source of discrimination against African Americans, but there has been little research on the role that skin tone plays in explaining experiences with racism. Similarly, colorism within African American families and the ways in which skin tone influences family processes is an understudied area of research. Using data from a longitudinal sample of African American families (n = 767), we assessed whether skin tone impacted experiences with discrimination or was related to differences in quality of parenting and racial socialization within families. Findings indicated no link between skin tone and racial discrimination, which suggests that lightness or darkness of skin does not either protect African Americans from or exacerbate the experiences of discrimination. On the other hand, families displayed preferential treatment toward offspring based on skin tone, and these differences varied by gender of child. Specifically, darker skin sons received higher quality parenting and more racial socialization promoting mistrust compared to their counterparts with lighter skin. Lighter skin daughters received higher quality parenting compared with those with darker skin. In addition, gender of child moderated the association between primary caregiver skin tone and racial socialization promoting mistrust. These results suggest that colorism remains a salient issue within African American families. Implications for future research, prevention, and intervention are discussed.

The Relationship Between Body Size and Depressed Mood Findings From a Sample of African American Middle School Girls

The relationship between body weight and depression among adolescent females has been the subject of considerable attention from researchers. The risk of experiencing this distress, however, is not equally distributed across members of all racial groups. African American girls are generally more satisfied with their bodies and thus may be less vulnerable to experiencing depression as a result of weight concerns. Several scholars have suggested that membership in African American culture provides social resources that protect Black females from experiencing high levels of weight-based psychological distress. The authors examine the relationship between body size and depression and the potentially moderating role of African American culture using data from the Family and Community Health Study. Assessing a cohort of 343 African American girls ages 12 to 14, the authors found support for a link between weight and depression. There was no evidence that exposure to African American culture moderated this relationship.

The Association between Racial Socialization and Depression: Testing Direct and Buffering Associations in a Longitudinal Cohort of African American Young Adults

The authors use a profile analysis strategy to identify five composite types of racial socialization practices or “racial socialization meta-messages.” The authors assess the association between racial socialization meta-messages received during late adolescence and depressive symptoms in young adulthood. They find that a guarded racial socialization meta-message (one that combines warnings about discrimination with direction to be wary and cautious when dealing with majority group members) is associated with elevated depressive symptoms when respondents are between the ages of 20 and 22 years. The authors also find that an empowered racial socialization meta-message (one that combines warnings about discrimination with strategies for overcoming racial prejudice) partially buffers respondents against the mental health consequences of racial discrimination.

How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health

BackgroundIn an era when obesity prevalence is high throughout much of the world, there is a correspondingly pervasive and strong culture of weight stigma. For example, representative studies show that some forms of weight discrimination are more prevalent even than discrimination based on race or ethnicity.DiscussionIn this Opinion article, we review compelling evidence that weight stigma is harmful to health, over and above objective body mass index. Weight stigma is prospectively related to heightened mortality and other chronic diseases and conditions. Most ironically, it actually begets heightened risk of obesity through multiple obesogenic pathways. Weight stigma is particularly prevalent and detrimental in healthcare settings, with documented high levels of ‘anti-fat’ bias in healthcare providers, patients with obesity receiving poorer care and having worse outcomes, and medical students with obesity reporting high levels of alcohol and substance use to cope with internalized weight stigma. In terms of solutions, the most effective and ethical approaches should be aimed at changing the behaviors and attitudes of those who stigmatize, rather than towards the targets of weight stigma. Medical training must address weight bias, training healthcare professionals about how it is perpetuated and on its potentially harmful effects on their patients.ConclusionWeight stigma is likely to drive weight gain and poor health and thus should be eradicated. This effort can begin by training compassionate and knowledgeable healthcare providers who will deliver better care and ultimately lessen the negative effects of weight stigma.

Socioeconomic and Demographic Determinants of the Nutritional Content of National School Lunch Program Entrée Selections

&NA; New National School Lunch Program (NSLP) guidelines aim to reduce sodium and saturated fats, limit calories, and eliminate trans‐fat and whole milk. This paper provides a novel approach to understanding how the healthfulness of NSLP participants’ entrée selections varies across socioeconomic and demographic groups. Unlike previous studies that rely on dietary recalls, we use a mixed logit model to examine students’ entrée choices in a school cafeteria. We estimate the likelihood that an entrée is selected from the available lunch choices as a function of the entrées nutrients (fat, carbohydrate, protein, and sodium) and entrées taste profile characteristics (e.g., Mexican, Pizza‐like), as well as the students socio‐economic and demographic characteristics. Using these estimates, we examine how changing the nutritional content of an offering impacts the probability of selecting each of the offerings. Free lunch recipients are more likely to choose entrées higher in fat but lower in sodium than other students. Full‐price lunch recipients are the most responsive to changes in nutritional content of the offerings and are most likely to respond to changes in the nutritional content of the offered entrées by substituting a lunch brought from home for the school‐purchased lunch. Replacing less healthy menu items with popular but healthier items reduces the selection of total calories, calories from fat, and sodium by approximately 4%, 18%, and 8%, respectively, over the study period. The new guidelines should be effective at improving the nutrition of school‐age children, and potentially reducing childhood obesity, provided NSLP participation does not decline appreciably.

Chapter 17 – Commentary

Publisher Summary One arena in which the inclusion of emotion has been particularly fruitful is in work on social change and social movements. Serious consideration of the role of emotion in social processes is a relatively recent addition to much of sociology. This chapter traces the rise, fall, and reemergence of emotions among movement scholars and discusses two papers that both validate and challenge current thinking on emotions and social change. While early social movement and collective behavior researchers considered emotion to be sociologically relevant, they also conceptualized it chiefly as a threat to existing social structures and as fundamentally incompatible with rational motivations. Gradually, concern with feelings, sentiments, moods, and passions has begun to assume a more central place in the discipline.