Study shows commitment to public health varies widely across racial and ethnic groups

Education and income often play a role in personal commitment to public-health goals and actions but there is a range of racial and ethnic variation across the U. S. between other educational levels according to a new UI study.

Im a Ph. D. student and Im looking at data from the National Institutes of Healths Focused Health and Preventive Research Fellowships Program said study author Marie E. Miller associate professor at the University of Michigans College of Human Medicine and a leader of the universitys Black and Minority Health Studies Division. Its interesting to see that if you just ask white women Are you making yourself less healthy? theyd say yes. But many of the professional differences were observed between men and women and most of the difference was in education level.

Miller says the study challenges current perceptions around race and ethnicity.

One of the long-running questions that people have raised and one of the first things people note is whether race plays a role in ones health and wellness. But it actually does but because we focus so much on race people often dont think of it as an issue and it rarely occurs in conversations around health disparities Miller said.

The study relied on data for over 4000 NFL players nearly half of whom were White and nearly 1500 Black or African-American individuals. In the reporting the researchers assessed how often participants reported health activity daily income desire for more health care such as better access to family members for visitation and their general level of need for care.