Opportunities for Better Health, Article Critique Example

In the paper, “Race and SocioeconomicFactors Affect Opportunities for Better Health”, authors Braveman et al. (2009), discuss the differences in health among racial and ethnic groups.  The authors begin the paper describing the observations that have been observed in the United States, the indicators of health and the ethnic groups that are more affected with this problem.  The authors indicate that mortality rates in infants during the first year are an indicator of health and therefore are a strong indicator to understanding both health and socioeconomic factors.  The researchers support this suggestion with statistics and break down racial and ethnic groups through identification of ancestral origin from different continents.  The racial and ethnic groups were broken down into black, non-Hispanic, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native and White.  The research indicates that Black and American Indian or Alaska Native babies are more likely to die in their first year of life compared to other infants from other ethnic backgrounds.

To further link ethnic groups to health and socioeconomic factors, additional statistics are provided for adult ethnic groups and correlation analysis is performed in regard to heart disease, premature death and stroke.  The authors also provide socioeconomic statistics with a correlation to health.  For instance, a graph is provided to show how as income increases, health status improves and as income decreases, poor health is reported.  Overall, the authors provide statistical evidence to support their research and hypothesis that race and socioeconomic factors are linked to health status.  (Braveman et al., 2009)

In the paper, “The Heritability of Gender Identity Disorder in a Child and Adolescent Twin Sample”, written by Coolidge et al. 2002, the authors begin the paper through a description of the definition of Gender Identity disorder per the American Psychiatric Association.  The authors include in their introduction a review of literature completed in regard to the genetic component of gender identity disorder.  In fact, the authors indicate that homosexuality is not controlled by one gene.  The authors then base their hypothesis on a study that was conducted on heritability of childhood gender nonconformity in twins.  The authors indicate that there the study did not include gender identity disorder; therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate twins and the correlation of inherited gender identity disorder.  The researchers used a large sample size at 314 twins, with the mean age around 10 years old.  The parents of the children were provided a 200 item questionnaire.  The twins were analyzed for the prevalence of symptoms for Genetic Identity Disorder, as well as Separation Anxiety Disorder and Depression.  The study was the first to analyze the heritability factors of Genetic Identity Disorder.  However, there is no scientific data to analyze with the study.  Future studies should incorporate a genetic component.  (Coolidge et al., 2002)

In the paper, “Racial/Ethnic Socialization Mediates Perceived Racism and the RacialIdentity of African American Adolescents” written by Stevenson and Arrington (2009), the authors indicate that the goal of the paper was to suggest that an adolescent’s perception of their parent’s behavior in regard to racial socialization practices influences the way in which adolescents youth consider the relationship between racial identity and racism.  The paper is an overview of mechanisms that are used to cope with discrimination.  In addition, the authors suggest that there is a relationship between racial socialization and racism.  The authors incorporate models in order to support their hypothesis that there is a relationship between these factors.  The models were very confusing and were representing in a word chart format.  The researchers did, however, collect demographic data from a large sample size of 108 students and provide statistical analysis using a correlation study to determine different factors of racism.  Applying statistical methods allowed for the researchers to find statistically significant relationships between racism experiences and identity in adolescents.  The research was valuable as it provides information suggesting that there are other factors that contribute to racism in adolescents.  There were some problems with the study, as it had a relatively small sample size for the type of study conducted, and was reliant on self-reported data.  (Stevenson and Arrignton, 2009)

References

Braveman, P., Egerter, S. PhD., An, J., Williams, D. PhD.  (2009). Race and Socioeconomic Factors Affect Opportunities for Better Health. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America. Issue Brief 5: Race and Socioeconomic Factors. Retrieved from: Commissionhealth.org.

Coolidge, F.L., Thede, L.L., and Young, S.E.  (2002). The Heritability of Gender Identity Disorder in a Child and Adolescent Twin Sample.  Behavior Genetics. 32(4):251-257.

Stevenson, H.C. and Arrington, E.G.  (2009).  Racial/Ethnic Socialization Mediates Perceived Racismand the RacialIdentity of African American Adolescents.  Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.  15(2):125:136.