Ivor Livingston | Howard University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ivor Livingston

Research paper thumbnail of Blacks, Life-Style and Hypertension: The Importance of Health Education

When compared with their white counterparts, it is an undisputed fact that black Americans have t... more When compared with their white counterparts, it is an undisputed fact that black Americans have twice the prevalence and severity of hypertension and its related sequelae. More fruitful answers to this race related hypertension issue can be realistically obtained by a more thorough examination of the dynamics associated with the daily life-style ex periences of black Americans. Blood Pressure studies conducted in the United States, as well as abroad in volving black populations, provide support for this life-style position, i.e., versus the more often talked about "genetic" position. These studies underscore that race by itself is not as important a determinant of BP elevation as is it's predisposing influence on how black Americans interact with and are influenc ed by their socio-psycho-cultural environment. Life style is viewed to mean both conscious discretionary and unconscious non-discretionary daily experiences of black Americans. Stressful life experiences are v...

Research paper thumbnail of 1-1-1987 Stress : How to Manage A Modern Dilemma

■ ■ s we approach the 21st century, stress ■ I and its related dysfunctions represent ■ ■ perhaps... more ■ ■ s we approach the 21st century, stress ■ I and its related dysfunctions represent ■ ■ perhaps the most serious challenge to the resources of our contemporary society. A major reason for this is the direct and/or indirect role stress plays in contributing to sickness, disability, death and the loss of production in the work place. Stress is a major factor in approximately 85 percent of all human illnesses. In the United States at least 20 million people suf fer from severe stress-induced physical ill nesses.1 Production loss from stress-in duced physical illnesses have been esti mated at a minimum of $60 billion an nually.2 Although stress can, in some cases, be detrimental to health, we cannot live with out it. It is our varied reactions to stress that create the will to achieve goals. Stress adds an excitement or flavor to life. In short, stress presents challenges to our adaptive resources. It is important to note, however, that it is the way we manage stress that helps to determine if we enjoy healthy or unhealthy lives. Although not often discussed, some stress is essential to life, growth and pro ductivity. For example, in the theater, stress helps performers to give their best by stim ulating them to perform at an optimal level. This "good" stress is "eustress"3 (from the Greek word "eu" for good). Stress obviously does not just happen any more than a candle simply ignites itself. A series of events occur on an individual level, beginning with a trigger or stressor (internal or external), leading to a bodily re action and ultimately to the dysfunction stage. The basic nature of stress poses certain real problems. For example, given the sub jective and individualized nature of the stress process, events that cause stress in one individual may not necessarily cause stress of a similar kind and magnitude in another individual. Also, given this vari ability, it is difficult, if not impossible, to as

Research paper thumbnail of The Importance of Socio-Psychological Stress in the Interpretation of the Race-Hypertension Association

Humanity & Society, 1985

Research paper thumbnail of Handbook of black American health: the mosaic of conditions, issues, policies, and prospects

Choice Reviews Online, 1994

... Contents Illustrations xi Foreword David Batcher xv Preface xix Acknowledgments xxiii Abbrevi... more ... Contents Illustrations xi Foreword David Batcher xv Preface xix Acknowledgments xxiii Abbreviations xxv Introduction Ivor Lensworth Livingston xxxi PART I ... Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Blacks Ki Moon Bang 9. Sickle Cell Disease: A Biopsychosocial Model Kermit B. Nash ...

Research paper thumbnail of Health Knowledge among Historically Black College and University Students: An Exploratory Study

College Student Journal, Sep 1, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived Control, Specific At-Risk and General Fear of AIDS: Intraracial Variation among African American College Students

The Urban League Review National Urban League Research Dept, Dec 31, 1990

Research paper thumbnail of African American College Students and Stress: School Racial Composition, Self-Esteem and Social Support

College Student Journal, Dec 1, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Social integration and black intraracial variation in blood pressure

Ethnicity & disease, 1991

An evaluation is made of the inverse role social integration plays in explaining variation in blo... more An evaluation is made of the inverse role social integration plays in explaining variation in blood pressure among a sample of 1420 black Americans. This sample is part of a larger representative sample of 6717 adults (18 years and older) who were interviewed in the 1981-82 Maryland Statewide Hypertension Control Program. Social integration is operationalized in terms of five submeasures: employment, marriage, church affiliation, group affiliation, and having someone to talk to when needed. Separate multiple regression analyses were conducted for males (n = 587) and females (n = 833), and selected covariates (eg, age, education, body mass index, physical exercise, current use of antihypertension medication, cigarette smoking) were entered to assess more adequately the hypothesized inverse relationship between social integration and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Only church affiliation appears inversely associated with systolic (males: b = -4.898; 95% CI = -10.385 to 0.589; ...

Research paper thumbnail of Hypertension and health education intervention in the Caribbean: a public health appraisal

Journal of the National Medical Association, 1985

Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have established hypertension and its related disea... more Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have established hypertension and its related diseases as posing a public health problem for the developing world.In the case of the Caribbean region, the increasing magnitude of the hypertension problem is complicated further by the region's fiscal crisis-its low cash availability for health expenditures and the concomitant experience in infectious diseases. Given these problems, it is reasoned that health education as an intervention approach is the only practical method to employ to address the problem of improved control of hypertension. The success of any such health education program will depend on, among other things, the framework used to guide the program, the population targeted on the basis of defined levels of arterial blood pressure and at-risk characteristics, and the specifics (ie, cultural, pharmacological, nonpharmacological, and motivational) of the message to be disseminated.

Research paper thumbnail of Co-factors, host susceptibility, and AIDS: an argument for stress

Journal of the National Medical Association, 1988

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is perhaps the most serious communicable public-health... more Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is perhaps the most serious communicable public-health disease of modern society. The human and societal devastation associated with this disease is tremendous. To date, a retrovirus (HTLV-III) has been implicated in the etiology of AIDS. There remains several critical questions, however, that only a more eclectic approach, certainly with a social science input, can more adequately address. Such questions have to deal with, for example, why are there differential out-comes regarding initiation, progress, and severity of AIDS?Realizing this need, this paper argues for the possible co-factor contribution of stress to host immune suppression and, ultimately, host susceptibility to the AIDS virus and its associated outcomes. A conceptual sociopsychophysiologic model of the entire stress process, ie, from onset, reaction up to and including effect, is presented and discussed. Within the context of the model, stress is viewed as a physiologic rea...

Research paper thumbnail of Cardiac Reactivity and Elevated Blood Pressure Levels among Young African Americans: The Importance of Stress

Urban League Review, 1990

EJ414467 - Cardiac Reactivity and Elevated Blood Pressure Levels among Young African Americans: T... more EJ414467 - Cardiac Reactivity and Elevated Blood Pressure Levels among Young African Americans: The Importance of Stress.

Research paper thumbnail of Hypertension, End-Stage Renal Disease and Rehabilitation: A Look at Black Americans

Western Journal of Black Studies, 1992

Research paper thumbnail of Praeger handbook of Black American health: policies and issues behind disparities in health

Research paper thumbnail of Beliefs concerning Hypertension: An Exploratory Study of Awareness in the Black Community

Western Journal of Black Studies, 1984

Research paper thumbnail of Changes with Aging of the Association of Religiosity and Current Alcohol Use in Americans to age 90 in a National Survey

The Internet Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology, 2007

There has been little investigation into whether aging modifies the often reported association be... more There has been little investigation into whether aging modifies the often reported association between alcohol abstinence and attendance at religious services. Cross-sectional analysis was performed of survey data (N=18,782) on self-reported frequency of attendance at religious services, and alcohol consumption controlling for other variables. In logistic regression analyses with no alcohol use in the previous month as dependent variable, significant interactions of weekly attendance with age and gender were seen (p<0.001), the positive association of weekly attendance and abstinence being stronger in men than women and in persons under 60 than over 60 years of age.

Research paper thumbnail of AIDS/HIV crisis in developing countries: the need for greater understanding and innovative health promotion approaches

Journal of the National Medical Association, 1992

Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have shown that the acquired immunodeficiency syndr... more Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have shown that the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome/human immunodeficiency virus (AIDS/HIV) epidemic is relatively widespread in the developing countries of the world, especially in the already economically deprived regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is estimated to have approximately 5 million seropositive individuals, and by the year 2000, this number is expected to include 10 million HIV-infected children. Improved control over this epidemic can only come through a greater understanding of the specifics of the disease and, eventually, the introduction of more effective and innovative health promotion campaigns targeted at medical personnel, traditional healers, families, and persons with AIDS. Comprehensive health promotion campaigns, carefully using mass media strategies in addition to more community-based programs, all operating under "decentralized" AIDS control programs, are reasoned to be the most efficacious appr...

Research paper thumbnail of Stress, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and African-American females

Journal of the National Medical Association, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Renal disease and black Americans: Selected issues

Social Science & Medicine, 1993

Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and ha... more Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and have a greater incidence. of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Renal disease is a frequent end point of accelerated hypertension. The reasons why black Americans have a higher incidence of ESRD relative to white Americans are explored. As transplantation is a preferred mode of treatment for chronically ill ESRD patients, the paper examines some of the reasons why blacks are more reluctant than whites to donate their organs (e.g. kidneys) for transplantation. Although various reasons affect organ donation, altruism is explored as a possible factor that may influence the willingness of blacks to donate their organs. social and demographic profile of hemodialysis patients in the United States. JAMA 245, 487491, 1981. Anaise D. and Smith R. Equity and organ distribution. Transplant Proc. 21, 338-339, 1989. Eggers P. Effects of transplantation on the medicare end-stage renal disease program. N. Engl. J. Med. 8, 223-229, 1988. 52.

Research paper thumbnail of Spare parts: Organ replacement in American societyby Renee C. Fox and Judith P. Swaley

Social Science & Medicine, 1994

... of and interest in them. From 1951 to 1954 Renee Fox, a sociologist of medicine, had been a p... more ... of and interest in them. From 1951 to 1954 Renee Fox, a sociologist of medicine, had been a participant observer on the metabolic research ward (F-Second) of Boston&amp;amp;amp;#x27;s Peter Bent Brigham Hos-pital. During those years the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Renal disease and black Americans: Selected issues

Social Science & Medicine, 1993

Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and ha... more Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and have a greater incidence. of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Renal disease is a frequent end point of accelerated hypertension. The reasons why black Americans have a higher incidence of ESRD relative to white Americans are explored. As transplantation is a preferred mode of treatment for chronically ill ESRD patients, the paper examines some of the reasons why blacks are more reluctant than whites to donate their organs (e.g. kidneys) for transplantation. Although various reasons affect organ donation, altruism is explored as a possible factor that may influence the willingness of blacks to donate their organs. social and demographic profile of hemodialysis patients in the United States. JAMA 245, 487491, 1981. Anaise D. and Smith R. Equity and organ distribution. Transplant Proc. 21, 338-339, 1989. Eggers P. Effects of transplantation on the medicare end-stage renal disease program. N. Engl. J. Med. 8, 223-229, 1988. 52.

Research paper thumbnail of Blacks, Life-Style and Hypertension: The Importance of Health Education

When compared with their white counterparts, it is an undisputed fact that black Americans have t... more When compared with their white counterparts, it is an undisputed fact that black Americans have twice the prevalence and severity of hypertension and its related sequelae. More fruitful answers to this race related hypertension issue can be realistically obtained by a more thorough examination of the dynamics associated with the daily life-style ex periences of black Americans. Blood Pressure studies conducted in the United States, as well as abroad in volving black populations, provide support for this life-style position, i.e., versus the more often talked about "genetic" position. These studies underscore that race by itself is not as important a determinant of BP elevation as is it's predisposing influence on how black Americans interact with and are influenc ed by their socio-psycho-cultural environment. Life style is viewed to mean both conscious discretionary and unconscious non-discretionary daily experiences of black Americans. Stressful life experiences are v...

Research paper thumbnail of 1-1-1987 Stress : How to Manage A Modern Dilemma

■ ■ s we approach the 21st century, stress ■ I and its related dysfunctions represent ■ ■ perhaps... more ■ ■ s we approach the 21st century, stress ■ I and its related dysfunctions represent ■ ■ perhaps the most serious challenge to the resources of our contemporary society. A major reason for this is the direct and/or indirect role stress plays in contributing to sickness, disability, death and the loss of production in the work place. Stress is a major factor in approximately 85 percent of all human illnesses. In the United States at least 20 million people suf fer from severe stress-induced physical ill nesses.1 Production loss from stress-in duced physical illnesses have been esti mated at a minimum of $60 billion an nually.2 Although stress can, in some cases, be detrimental to health, we cannot live with out it. It is our varied reactions to stress that create the will to achieve goals. Stress adds an excitement or flavor to life. In short, stress presents challenges to our adaptive resources. It is important to note, however, that it is the way we manage stress that helps to determine if we enjoy healthy or unhealthy lives. Although not often discussed, some stress is essential to life, growth and pro ductivity. For example, in the theater, stress helps performers to give their best by stim ulating them to perform at an optimal level. This "good" stress is "eustress"3 (from the Greek word "eu" for good). Stress obviously does not just happen any more than a candle simply ignites itself. A series of events occur on an individual level, beginning with a trigger or stressor (internal or external), leading to a bodily re action and ultimately to the dysfunction stage. The basic nature of stress poses certain real problems. For example, given the sub jective and individualized nature of the stress process, events that cause stress in one individual may not necessarily cause stress of a similar kind and magnitude in another individual. Also, given this vari ability, it is difficult, if not impossible, to as

Research paper thumbnail of The Importance of Socio-Psychological Stress in the Interpretation of the Race-Hypertension Association

Humanity & Society, 1985

Research paper thumbnail of Handbook of black American health: the mosaic of conditions, issues, policies, and prospects

Choice Reviews Online, 1994

... Contents Illustrations xi Foreword David Batcher xv Preface xix Acknowledgments xxiii Abbrevi... more ... Contents Illustrations xi Foreword David Batcher xv Preface xix Acknowledgments xxiii Abbreviations xxv Introduction Ivor Lensworth Livingston xxxi PART I ... Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Blacks Ki Moon Bang 9. Sickle Cell Disease: A Biopsychosocial Model Kermit B. Nash ...

Research paper thumbnail of Health Knowledge among Historically Black College and University Students: An Exploratory Study

College Student Journal, Sep 1, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived Control, Specific At-Risk and General Fear of AIDS: Intraracial Variation among African American College Students

The Urban League Review National Urban League Research Dept, Dec 31, 1990

Research paper thumbnail of African American College Students and Stress: School Racial Composition, Self-Esteem and Social Support

College Student Journal, Dec 1, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Social integration and black intraracial variation in blood pressure

Ethnicity & disease, 1991

An evaluation is made of the inverse role social integration plays in explaining variation in blo... more An evaluation is made of the inverse role social integration plays in explaining variation in blood pressure among a sample of 1420 black Americans. This sample is part of a larger representative sample of 6717 adults (18 years and older) who were interviewed in the 1981-82 Maryland Statewide Hypertension Control Program. Social integration is operationalized in terms of five submeasures: employment, marriage, church affiliation, group affiliation, and having someone to talk to when needed. Separate multiple regression analyses were conducted for males (n = 587) and females (n = 833), and selected covariates (eg, age, education, body mass index, physical exercise, current use of antihypertension medication, cigarette smoking) were entered to assess more adequately the hypothesized inverse relationship between social integration and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Only church affiliation appears inversely associated with systolic (males: b = -4.898; 95% CI = -10.385 to 0.589; ...

Research paper thumbnail of Hypertension and health education intervention in the Caribbean: a public health appraisal

Journal of the National Medical Association, 1985

Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have established hypertension and its related disea... more Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have established hypertension and its related diseases as posing a public health problem for the developing world.In the case of the Caribbean region, the increasing magnitude of the hypertension problem is complicated further by the region's fiscal crisis-its low cash availability for health expenditures and the concomitant experience in infectious diseases. Given these problems, it is reasoned that health education as an intervention approach is the only practical method to employ to address the problem of improved control of hypertension. The success of any such health education program will depend on, among other things, the framework used to guide the program, the population targeted on the basis of defined levels of arterial blood pressure and at-risk characteristics, and the specifics (ie, cultural, pharmacological, nonpharmacological, and motivational) of the message to be disseminated.

Research paper thumbnail of Co-factors, host susceptibility, and AIDS: an argument for stress

Journal of the National Medical Association, 1988

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is perhaps the most serious communicable public-health... more Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is perhaps the most serious communicable public-health disease of modern society. The human and societal devastation associated with this disease is tremendous. To date, a retrovirus (HTLV-III) has been implicated in the etiology of AIDS. There remains several critical questions, however, that only a more eclectic approach, certainly with a social science input, can more adequately address. Such questions have to deal with, for example, why are there differential out-comes regarding initiation, progress, and severity of AIDS?Realizing this need, this paper argues for the possible co-factor contribution of stress to host immune suppression and, ultimately, host susceptibility to the AIDS virus and its associated outcomes. A conceptual sociopsychophysiologic model of the entire stress process, ie, from onset, reaction up to and including effect, is presented and discussed. Within the context of the model, stress is viewed as a physiologic rea...

Research paper thumbnail of Cardiac Reactivity and Elevated Blood Pressure Levels among Young African Americans: The Importance of Stress

Urban League Review, 1990

EJ414467 - Cardiac Reactivity and Elevated Blood Pressure Levels among Young African Americans: T... more EJ414467 - Cardiac Reactivity and Elevated Blood Pressure Levels among Young African Americans: The Importance of Stress.

Research paper thumbnail of Hypertension, End-Stage Renal Disease and Rehabilitation: A Look at Black Americans

Western Journal of Black Studies, 1992

Research paper thumbnail of Praeger handbook of Black American health: policies and issues behind disparities in health

Research paper thumbnail of Beliefs concerning Hypertension: An Exploratory Study of Awareness in the Black Community

Western Journal of Black Studies, 1984

Research paper thumbnail of Changes with Aging of the Association of Religiosity and Current Alcohol Use in Americans to age 90 in a National Survey

The Internet Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology, 2007

There has been little investigation into whether aging modifies the often reported association be... more There has been little investigation into whether aging modifies the often reported association between alcohol abstinence and attendance at religious services. Cross-sectional analysis was performed of survey data (N=18,782) on self-reported frequency of attendance at religious services, and alcohol consumption controlling for other variables. In logistic regression analyses with no alcohol use in the previous month as dependent variable, significant interactions of weekly attendance with age and gender were seen (p<0.001), the positive association of weekly attendance and abstinence being stronger in men than women and in persons under 60 than over 60 years of age.

Research paper thumbnail of AIDS/HIV crisis in developing countries: the need for greater understanding and innovative health promotion approaches

Journal of the National Medical Association, 1992

Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have shown that the acquired immunodeficiency syndr... more Epidemiologic data on morbidity and mortality have shown that the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome/human immunodeficiency virus (AIDS/HIV) epidemic is relatively widespread in the developing countries of the world, especially in the already economically deprived regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is estimated to have approximately 5 million seropositive individuals, and by the year 2000, this number is expected to include 10 million HIV-infected children. Improved control over this epidemic can only come through a greater understanding of the specifics of the disease and, eventually, the introduction of more effective and innovative health promotion campaigns targeted at medical personnel, traditional healers, families, and persons with AIDS. Comprehensive health promotion campaigns, carefully using mass media strategies in addition to more community-based programs, all operating under "decentralized" AIDS control programs, are reasoned to be the most efficacious appr...

Research paper thumbnail of Stress, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and African-American females

Journal of the National Medical Association, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Renal disease and black Americans: Selected issues

Social Science & Medicine, 1993

Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and ha... more Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and have a greater incidence. of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Renal disease is a frequent end point of accelerated hypertension. The reasons why black Americans have a higher incidence of ESRD relative to white Americans are explored. As transplantation is a preferred mode of treatment for chronically ill ESRD patients, the paper examines some of the reasons why blacks are more reluctant than whites to donate their organs (e.g. kidneys) for transplantation. Although various reasons affect organ donation, altruism is explored as a possible factor that may influence the willingness of blacks to donate their organs. social and demographic profile of hemodialysis patients in the United States. JAMA 245, 487491, 1981. Anaise D. and Smith R. Equity and organ distribution. Transplant Proc. 21, 338-339, 1989. Eggers P. Effects of transplantation on the medicare end-stage renal disease program. N. Engl. J. Med. 8, 223-229, 1988. 52.

Research paper thumbnail of Spare parts: Organ replacement in American societyby Renee C. Fox and Judith P. Swaley

Social Science & Medicine, 1994

... of and interest in them. From 1951 to 1954 Renee Fox, a sociologist of medicine, had been a p... more ... of and interest in them. From 1951 to 1954 Renee Fox, a sociologist of medicine, had been a participant observer on the metabolic research ward (F-Second) of Boston&amp;amp;amp;#x27;s Peter Bent Brigham Hos-pital. During those years the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Renal disease and black Americans: Selected issues

Social Science & Medicine, 1993

Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and ha... more Black Americans compared with their white counterparts are disproportionately hypertensive and have a greater incidence. of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Renal disease is a frequent end point of accelerated hypertension. The reasons why black Americans have a higher incidence of ESRD relative to white Americans are explored. As transplantation is a preferred mode of treatment for chronically ill ESRD patients, the paper examines some of the reasons why blacks are more reluctant than whites to donate their organs (e.g. kidneys) for transplantation. Although various reasons affect organ donation, altruism is explored as a possible factor that may influence the willingness of blacks to donate their organs. social and demographic profile of hemodialysis patients in the United States. JAMA 245, 487491, 1981. Anaise D. and Smith R. Equity and organ distribution. Transplant Proc. 21, 338-339, 1989. Eggers P. Effects of transplantation on the medicare end-stage renal disease program. N. Engl. J. Med. 8, 223-229, 1988. 52.