MCAT Social and Behavioral Sciences : Other Stress Principles
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for MCAT Social and Behavioral Sciences
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Example Questions
Example Question #3 : Stress
US-born African-American women are more likely than African-born women to have a low-birth weight baby, which is a risk factor for infant mortality.
This statement is evidence of what phenomenon?
Healthcare in Africa is becoming safer every day.
Women with African roots are better off having babies in Africa.
Low birth-weight is a risk factor for infant mortality.
Hispanic women have better birth outcomes than African-American women.
Increasingly, it is believed that the stress of racism on African-American women may affect birth outcomes.
Increasingly, it is believed that the stress of racism on African-American women may affect birth outcomes.
The correct answer is that the stress of racism on African-American women may affect birth outcomes. This is an important finding in the body of work of health equity and social determinants of health. It is not necessarily the case that health outcomes are improving in Africa, and the text does not indicate this. Women who have been exposed to a lifetime of racism in the US will not likely have better birth outcomes by traveling to Africa to deliver. The text also does not indicate that birthing in Africa is safer in the U.S. Yes, low birth weight is a risk factor for infant mortality, but this is simply repeating the text, and thus it is not an appropriate answer. Finally, it is true that Hispanic women, on average, have better birth outcomes than African-American women, but this is tangential and would be part of the evidence, not the theory.
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