Law Commons^™

Laws Restricting Access To Abortion Services And Infant Mortality Risk In The United States, Roman Pabayo, Amy Ehntholt, Daniel M. Cook, Megan Reynolds, Peter Muennig, Sze Yan Liu

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives: Since the US Supreme Court′s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, states have enacted laws restricting access to abortion services. Previous studies suggest that restricting access to abortion is a risk factor for adverse maternal and infant health. The objective of this investigation is to study the relationship between the type and the number of state-level restrictive abortion laws and infant mortality risk. Methods: We used data on 11,972,629 infants and mothers from the US Cohort Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Files 2008–2010. State-level abortion laws included Medicaid funding restrictions, mandatory parental involvement, mandatory counseling, mandatory waiting period, and …

Association Between Racial Discrimination And Health‐Related Quality Of Life And The Impact Of Social Relationships, Sze Yan Liu, Genevieve Bergeron, Nneka Lundy De La Cruz, L. Hannah Gould, Amber Levanon Seligson

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: Interpersonal racial discrimination is associated with poor health. Social relationships may moderate the impact of discrimination and represent modifiable behaviors that can be targeted by public health interventions. We described citywide associations between self-reported racial discrimination and health-related quality of life among the overall New York City (NYC) adult residential population and by four main race/ethnicity groups and explored whether social relationships moderated health effects of discrimination.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional survey data from 2335 adults weighted to be representative of the NYC population. We measured exposures to lifetime interpersonal racial discrimination in nine domains using a modifed version …

Inequitable Chronic Lead Exposure: A Dual Legacy Of Social And Environmental Injustice, Tamara Leech, Elizabeth A. Adams, Tess D. Weathers, Lisa K. Staten, Gabriel M. Filippelli

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Both historic and contemporary factors contribute to the current unequal distribution of lead in urban environments and the disproportionate impact lead exposure has on the health and well-being of low-income minority communities. We consider the enduring impact of lead through the lens of environmental justice, taking into account well-documented geographic concentrations of lead, legacy sources that produce chronic exposures, and intergenerational transfers of risk. We discuss the most promising type of public health action to address inequitable lead exposure and uptake: primordial prevention efforts that address the most fundamental causes of diseases by intervening in structural and systemic inequalities.

Area Specific Self-Esteem, Values, And Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Michael Young, Joseph Donnelly, George Denny

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examined area-specific self-esteem scores by sexual behavior relative to adolescents' values concerning participation in sexual intercourse as an unmarried teenager. The sample consisted of 332 students in grades 7–12 from a Southern rural school district. Students were asked if they had ever had sexual intercourse (yes/no) and if they had participated in sexual intercourse in the last month (yes/no). Respondents also indicated on a 4-point scale their response to the statement “It is against my values to have sex as an unmarried teenager.” Data were analyzed using a 2 × 4 (behavior x values) analysis of variance for …

Need For Cognition And Message Complexity In Motivating Fruit And Vegetable Intake Among Callers To The Cancer Information Service, Pamela Williams-Piehota, Judith Pizarro, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Linda Mowad, Peter Salovey

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This field experiment examined the impact of an individual's need for cognition (NFC; the tendency to enjoy thinking deeply about issues), complex versus simple messages, and the interaction of NFC and message type on encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption. Callers to the Cancer Information Service of the National Cancer Institute (N = 517) were asked to participate in the experiment at the end of their call. Individual NFC was assessed, and participants were assigned randomly to receive a telephone message promoting fruit and vegetable consumption that was either complex and multifaceted or simple and straightforward. Similarly constructed brochures were …

Casting Health Messages In Terms Of Responsibility For Dietary Change: Increasing Fruit And Vegetable Consumption, Pamela Williams-Piehota, Ashley R. Cox, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Linda Z. Mowad, Sharon Garcia, Nicole A. Katulak, Peter Salovey

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective

To compare the effectiveness of messages emphasizing the importance of either personal or social responsibility for dietary behavior change in increasing fruit and vegetable intake.

Design/Setting

Randomly assigned individually or socially oriented messages were delivered at baseline, 1 week, and 2 and 3 months later. Telephone surveys were conducted at baseline and 1 and 4 months later.

Participants

528 callers to a cancer information hotline who were not meeting the “5 A Day” dietary recommendation.

Interventions

A brief telephone-delivered message and 3 mailings of pamphlets and promotional items encouraging fruit and vegetable intake that emphasized either personal or social …