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This Essay explores how Graham v. Connor and the policies it codified contribute to multiple and interacting levels of health inequities caused by police violence in African American communities. First, police violence leads to higher rates of deaths, physical injuries, and psychological harm among affected individuals. Second, police violence contributes to a general climate of fear, chronic stress, and lowered resistance to diseases in communities even among those not directly harmed by police. In addition, use of excessive force and hyperpolicing in African American communities reduce opportunities for employment, education, housing, and social integration for residents in those areas. The socioeconomic marginalization of these communities makes them breeding grounds for crime, which increases levels of policing and related violence. Finally, Graham illustrates how African Americans and other marginalized groups suffer from police violence through framing black health problems as crimes needing policing and punishment instead of as illnesses requiring treatment and other forms of public health interventions. From this perspective, African Americans with mental health problems, drug problems, and chronic diseases such as diabetes, as in the case of Dethorne Graham, are targets of police violence in communities with few health resources and high levels of policing.

Rap music has major social and cultural significance for American and global youth audiences and, along with other media, is believed to play a central role in shaping adolescents’ beliefs, attitudes and intentions related to sexuality. However few studies concerned with health issues have explored the content of lyrics regarding sex and gender, with most research in this area focused on the effects of media portrayals on sexual behavior and problems. Much of the scholarship analyzing sexuality and gender issues in the media comes from disciplines outside of health and the behavioral sciences, such as cultural studies. This paper compares literature related to sexuality and gender in rap music from a variety of perspectives such as feminism, cultural studies, and sociology as well as from health and behavioral research in order to deepen understanding of the lyrical content that may influence sexual attitudes and behavior. The review illustrates that conflicting paradigms, for example of sexual agency or misogyny, emerge in this literature and that few studies are both conceptually rich and empirically strong. Future research should address this challenge as well as explore changes over time in how sexual and gender relationships have been depicted in this musical genre.

Rap music has been at the center of concern about the potential harmful effects of violent media on youth social behavior. This article explores the role of changing images of violence in rap music lyrics from the 1970s to the 1990s. The results indicate that there has been a dramatic and sustained increase in the level of violence in rap music. The percentage of songs mentioning violence increased from 27 per cent during 1979-1984 to 60 per cent during 1994-1997. In addition, portrayals of violence in later songs are viewed in a more positive light as shown by their increased association with glamor, wealth, masculinity, and personal prowess. Additional analyses revealed that genre, specifically gangster rap, is the most powerful predictor of the increased number of violent references in songs. The discussion suggests that violence in rap music has increased in response to the complex interplay of changing social conditions such as the elevated levels of youth violence in the 1980s and changing commercial practices within the music industry.

Objectives Racial and ethnic groups in the US exhibit major differences in low birthweight (LBW) rates. While previous studies have shown that community level social indicators associated with LBW vary by race and ethnicity, it is not known whether these differences exist among racial or ethnic groups who live in the same neighborhood or community. To address this question, we examined the association of community level features with LBW among African American, White and Hispanic women who live in similar geographic areas. Methods The analysis is based on geocoded birth certificates for all singleton live births in the year 2000 to women residing in 805 California ZIP codes. Community level social and demographic data were obtained from U.S. Census data files for the year 2000 and surrogate indices of population level alcohol and drug abuse and dependence were derived from hospital discharge data (HDD). Tobit and bootstrap analyses were used to test associations with birth outcomes, maternal characteristics, and community level social and demographic features within and across the three groups of women living in similar geographic areas. Results The results demonstrate major racial and ethnic differences in community level correlates of LBW. Rates of LBW among African Americans were lower if they lived in areas that were more densely populated, had greater income disparities, were more racially segregated, and had low rates of alcohol abuse or dependence. These associations were different or absent for Hispanic and White women. Conclusions for Practice The results suggest that despite living in the same areas, major differences in neighborhood features and social processes are linked to birth outcomes of African American women compared to Hispanic and White women. Further research, especially using multilevel approaches, is needed to precisely identify these differences to help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in LBW.

The goal of this study was to describe how activists engaged in campaigns to change alcohol policies in inner city areas framed alcohol problems, and whether or not their frameworks reflected major models used in the field, such as the alcoholism as a disease model, an alcohol problems perspective, or a public health approach to alcohol problems. The findings showed that activists’ models shared some aspects with dominant approaches which tend to focus on individuals and to a lesser extent on regulating alcohol marketing and sales. However, activists’ models differed in significant ways by focusing on community level problems with alcohol; on problems with social norms regarding alcohol use; and on the relationship of alcohol use to illicit drugs.

In marginalized urban neighborhoods across the USA, Latino youth are disproportionately represented among the growing number of youth gangs. Substance use among gang-involved youth poses both immediate and long-term health risks and can threaten educational engagement, future socioeconomic stability, and desistance. Conventional assessments of gang-affiliated youth and their peer network overlook the possibility that positive peer ties may exist and can foster health promoting behavior norms. Drawing on a positive deviance framework, in this study, we examine the relationship between positive peer network characteristics tied to post-secondary educational aspirations and frequent alcohol and marijuana use among Latino, gang-affiliated youth from a neighborhood in San Francisco. Using generalized estimating equations regression models across 72 peer network clusters (162 youth), we found that having close friends who plan to go to a 4-year college was associated with a lower odds of frequent marijuana and alcohol use (OR 0.27, p  = 0.02; OR 0.29, p  = 0.14, respectively) and that this association persisted when adjusting for risk characteristics (OR 0.19, p  < 0.01; OR 0.25, p  = 0.12). Public health can advance gang intervention efforts by identifying protective and risk factors associated with non-criminal health outcomes to inform participatory research approaches and asset-based interventions that contribute to building healthy communities.

This study examines the social construction of alcohol problems by activists involved in alcohol policy campaigns in inner-city neighborhoods in the 1990s. Nearly 200 informants were interviewed and asked to describe why they thought local neighborhoods mobilized around alcohol policy issues. In contrast with other social movements that have emphasized individual alcohol problem or addiction experiences, informants in this study focused on the role of alcohol outlets and sales and marketing in contributing to various forms of social disorder, such as crime, violence, illicit drug use, public intoxication, and nuisances that were engulfing their neighborhoods. These themes were interpreted in light of the social conditions faced by inner-city residents in the 1980s and 1990s, including the crack cocaine epidemic, the spectacular rise in youth violence, aggressive new alcoholic beverage marketing campaigns, and the increasing rates of poverty in dilapidated urban centers.

This study examines the social construction of alcohol problems by activists involved in alcohol policy campaigns in inner-city neighborhoods in the 1990s. Nearly 200 informants were interviewed and asked to describe why they thought local neighborhoods mobilized around alcohol policy issues. In contrast with other social movements that have emphasized individual alcohol problem or addiction experiences, informants in this study focused on the role of alcohol outlets and sales and marketing in contributing to various forms of social disorder, such as crime, violence, illicit drug use, public intoxication, and nuisances that were engulfing their neighborhoods. These themes were interpreted in light of the social conditions faced by inner-city residents in the 1980s and 1990s, including the crack cocaine epidemic, the spectacular rise in youth violence, aggressive new alcoholic beverage marketing campaigns, and the increasing rates of poverty in dilapidated urban centers.

In the United States, adolescent childbearing is disproportionately higher among Latino youth, a growing population facing substantial social exclusion. Exploring the relationship between the social environment and sexual health outcomes among Latino youth may offer insights into the development of novel interventions. In this study, Latino youth in partnerships were recruited from neighborhood venues in San Francisco and completed in-depth interviews. Youth reported a desire to complete higher education goals prior to starting a family to improve future opportunities and further personal development. Youth stated that social network members, family and partners, were supportive of their individual childbearing expectations. Social environment barriers tied to poverty, immigration status, and gang violence hindered educational attainment. Some differences were noted by gender and immigrant generation. Building on protective social ties and creating avenues in poor, urban neighborhoods for Latino youth to fully access educational opportunities may counter early childbearing and improve sexual health.