“Racial Realignment of Time” and Disparities in Early-Onset Chronic Conditions

Linnea Evans , University of Wisconsin-Madison

Extant research has shown that cardiovascular risk factors, including overweight/obesity and hypertension, are present in youth, and race and gender differentials are evident by young adulthood. As knowledge on race differentials in timing of onset has progressed, so too have inquiries into the role of social adversity in adolescence, primarily investigated through the lens of economic deprivation. Time, however, is another resource also be constrained by racialization processes. In this study we consider how racial health inequities reflect not only the accumulated effect of persistent economic disadvantage, but also the effects of experiencing other constraints, such as “racialized realignments of time.” Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescence to Adulthood, a composite measure of realigned time in adolescence was created from seven indicators of time disadvantage and employed in ordinal logistic regression to estimate the mediating role in Black-to-White odds ratios for weight and hypertension status among young adults.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 2. Children & Youth