Key Concepts to Apply
Understanding that social groups are not biologically or genetically bound; investigating the underlying social and cultural patterns that led to certain outcomes or disparities

Suggested Reading
Chou, V. (2017, April 17). How Science and Genetics are Reshaping the Race Debate of the 21st Century. Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Blog. 

Fujimura, J.H., & Rajagopalan, R. (2011). Different differences: the use of ‘genetic ancestry’ versus race in biomedical human genetic research. Social Studies of Science, 41(1), 5–30. 

Roberts, D. (2011). Fatal invention: How science, politics, and big business re-create race in the twenty-first century. New Press/ORIM.

Roberts, D.E., & Rollins, O. (2020). Why sociology matters to race and biosocial science. Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 195-214.

Yudell, M., Roberts, D., DeSalle, R., & Tishkoff, S. (2019). Taking race out of human genetics: Engaging a century-long debate about the role of race in science. The Social Medicine Reader, Volume II, Third Edition (pp. 204-208). Duke University Press.

Key Concepts to Apply
Careful assessment of the demographic profiles of who is included in research; assessment of who has been made invisible or whose experiences are not represented

Suggested Reading
Bailey, A.H., LaFrance, M., & Dovidio, J.F. (2019). Is man the measure of all things? A social cognitive account of androcentrism. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 23(4), 307-331.

Purdie-Vaughns, V., & Eibach, R.P. (2008). Intersectional invisibility: The distinctive advantages and disadvantages of multiple subordinate-group identities. Sex Roles, 59(5), 377-391.

Sabik N.J., Matsick J.L., McCormick-Huhn K., & Cole E.R. (2021). Bringing an intersectional lens to “open” science: an analysis of representation in the reproducibility project. Psychology of Women Quarterly.

Key Concepts to Apply
Categorization of groups based on demographic or identity factors often leads to essentialization and a reduction to defining them solely as members of that group. An alternate approach asks what is it about being a member of a group that is important for this line of research?

Suggested Reading
Forber-Pratt A.J., Lyew D.A., Mueller C., Samples L.B. Disability identity development: a systematic review of the literature. Rehabilitation Psychology. (2017) 62:198–207. doi:

Helms, J.E., Jernigan, M., & Mascher, J. (2005). The meaning of race in psychology and how to change it: A methodological perspective. American Psychologist, 60(1), 27.

Sellers, R.M., Rowley, S.A., Chavous, T.M., Shelton, J.N., & Smith, M.A. (1997). Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity: A preliminary investigation of reliability and construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(4), 805.

Van Anders, S.M. (2015). Beyond sexual orientation: Integrating gender/sex and diverse sexualities via sexual configurations theory. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44(5), 1177-1213.

Key Concepts to Apply
Looking at within-group variability rather than comparing across groups reveals nuanced information and reinforces the idea that groups are not homogeneous

Suggested Reading
Bediako, S.M., & Griffith, D.M. (2020). Eliminating racial/ethnic health disparities: Reconsidering comparative approaches. UMBC Faculty Collection.

Cole, E.R., & Stewart, A.J. (2001). Invidious comparisons: Imagining a psychology of race and gender beyond differences. Political Psychology, 22(2), 293–308. 

Hyde, J.S., Bigler, R.S., Joel, D., Tate, C.C., & van Anders, S.M. (2019). The future of sex and gender in psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary. American Psychologist, 74(2), 171.

Patil, P.A., Porche, M.V., Shippen, N.A., Dallenbach, N.T., & Fortuna, L.R. (2018). Which girls, which boys? The intersectional risk for depression by race and ethnicity, and gender in the U.S. Clinical Psychology Review, 66, 51-68.

Key Concepts to Apply
In our quest to establish and track disparities, the focus is often on differences, and we miss critical information about similarities between groups. Asking this question can reveal new and different information that would have otherwise been overlooked, and knowledge can be leveraged across groups.

Suggested Reading
Cole, E.R. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64(3), 170–180.

Hyde, J.S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60(6), 581.

Scheim, A.I., & Bauer, G.R. (2019). The Intersectional Discrimination Index: Development and validation of measures of self-reported enacted and anticipated discrimination for intercategorical analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 226, 225-235.

Key Concepts to Apply
This is often a subtext that is not clearly stated or addressed in health disparities research. However, this is foundational to understanding not only how we frame health disparities, but also how we use language to place the onus on certain groups to address the issues.

Suggested Reading
Bowleg, L. (2021). “The Master’s tools will never dismantle the Master's House”: Ten critical lessons for black and other Health Equity researchers of color. Health Education & Behavior, 48(3), 237–249.

Geronimus, A.T., Hicken, M., Keene, D., & Bound, J. (2006). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 96(5), 826-833.

Jackson, J.S., Brown, T.N., Williams, D.R., Torres, M., Sellers, S.L., & Brown, K. (1996). Racism and the physical and mental health status of African Americans: a thirteen year national panel study. Ethnicity & Disease, 6(1-2), 132-147.

Key Concepts to Apply
Although this question may seem obvious, it’s a good exercise to pause and consider a) whose perspective is represented on the research team, b) what factors or perspectives would enrich or potentially contribute to our understanding of a health issue or the population being studied, and c) whether re-framing the issue can highlight how power, privilege, and dominant ways of thinking can be challenged. This is an invitation to go deeper and to search out nuance that is often missed in research based on mean comparison.

Suggested Reading
Bowleg, L. (2012). The problem with the phrase Women and Minorities : intersectionality - an important theoretical framework for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 102(7), 1267–1273.

Maina-Okori, N.M., Koushik, J.R., & Wilson, A. (2018). Reimagining intersectionality in environmental and sustainability education: A critical literature review. The Journal of Environmental Education, 49(4), 286-296.

Settles, I.H., Warner, L.R., Buchanan, N.T., & Jones, M.K. (2020). Understanding psychology's resistance to intersectionality theory using a framework of epistemic exclusion and invisibility. Journal of Social Issues, 76(4), 796-813.

Versey, H.S., Cogburn, C.C., Wilkins, C.L., & Joseph, N. (2019). Appropriated racial oppression: Implications for mental health in Whites and Blacks. Social Science & Medicine, 230, 295-302.

Key Concepts to Apply
Culturally in the U.S. there is a focus on individualism and individual approaches to managing health. This question invites a contextualization of the individual into their broader social fabric, wherein the laws, institutions, social norms, and policies shape and constrain individual behavior.

Suggested Reading
Bowleg, L. (2020). We’re not all in this together: on COVID-19, intersectionality, and structural inequality. American Journal of Public Health, 110:917.

Hicken, M.T., Kravitz-Wirtz, N., Durkee, M., & Jackson, J.S. (2018). Racial inequalities in health: Framing future research. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 199, 11.

Homan, P. (2019). Structural sexism and health in the United States: A new perspective on health inequality and the gender system. American Sociological Review, 84(3), 486-516.

Wesp, L.M., Malcoe, L.H., Elliott, A., & Poteat, T. (2019). Intersectionality research for transgender health justice: a theory-driven conceptual framework for structural analysis of transgender health inequities. Transgender Health, 4(1), 287-296.

Key Concepts to Apply
A core tenet of intersectionality is that social identities are not experienced singularly, and people’s experiences depend on the intersection of identities they hold. Dovetailing this approach is understanding that discrimination and power are also experienced in an intersectional nature. Direct acknowledgement of this complexity will allow for these patterns and structures to be made visible and acknowledged in producing and maintaining health disparities.

Suggested Reading
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299
(see also Crenshaw K. (2016). The urgency of intersectionality. TED)

Griffith, D.M., Metzl, J.M., & Gunter, K. (2011). Considering intersections of race and gender in interventions that address US men’s health disparities. Public Health, 125(7), 417–423.

Versey, H.S. (2021). Missing Pieces in the Discussion on Climate Change and Risk: Intersectionality and Compounded Vulnerability. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8(1), 67-75.

Key Concepts to Apply
Asking “what does it mean to be a member of a social group?” focuses on how that group membership is experienced by individuals in the group, rather than labeling the group and making an assumption about what that membership means. This approach helps to center the experiences of people in minoritized groups and highlights information that may have otherwise been overlooked or assumed.

Suggested Reading
Cole, E.R., & Stewart, A.J. (2001). Invidious comparisons: Imagining a psychology of race and gender beyond differences. Political Psychology, 22(2), 293–308.

Dixon, J., Elcheroth, G., Kerr, P., Drury, J., Al Bzour, M., Subašić, E., ... & Green, E.G. (2020). It’s not just “us” versus “them”: Moving beyond binary perspectives on intergroup processes. European Review of Social Psychology, 31(1), 40-75.

Evans, C.R. (2019). Modeling the intersectionality of processes in the social production of health inequalities. Social Science & Medicine, 226, 249-253.

McCall, L. (2005). The complexity of intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30(3), 1771-1800.