title: African American women's exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination in public settings and preterm birth: the effect of coping behaviors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether African American women's coping behaviors modify the relationship between exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination in public settings and preterm birth (<37 weeks).
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study was performed among African American women delivering infants at two tertiary care hospitals in Chicago, IL between July 2001-June 2005. A structured questionnaire was administered to measure maternal perceived exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination in public settings and coping behaviors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A greater percentage of African American mothers of preterm infants had high lifetime and past year exposure to racism in public settings than their peers who deliver term infants; odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) equaled 1.5 (0.9-2.8) for lifetime and 2.5 (1.2-5.2) for past year exposure. Active coping, especially "working harder to prove them wrong" led to attenuated ORs (interaction P value<.05 for lifetime and <.10 for past year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  African American women's exposure to racism in public settings is a risk factor for preterm birth; active coping behaviors weaken this relationship.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. krankin@uic.edu
authors.forename: Kristin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rankin
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002641:Chicago; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011287:Prejudice; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000208:ethnology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires