{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T15:38:42Z","timestamp":1785425922492,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782777600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014239","name":"North Carolina Central University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["H79SM084431"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["H79SM084431"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014239","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["H79SM084431"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["H79SM084431"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/051r3tx83","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This exploratory cross-sectional study examined whether pandemic-related family well-being responses differed across North Carolina\u2019s 2021 county economic tiers among 178 Black parents. Survey responses were linked to county tier and included reported stress, emotional symptoms, food hardship, self-rated health, sleep change, work and parenting disruption, and parent\u2013child interaction items. Primary analyses used the Kruskal\u2013Wallis and chi-square tests; within-tier correlations and tier-stratified linear probability models were used for supplementary and descriptive purposes. Respondents across all tiers reported pandemic-related burdens, but most cross-tier comparisons were not statistically significant. One food-hardship item (p = 0.050) and one parent\u2013child interaction item (p = 0.042) met the nominal 0.05 threshold, while one emotional symptom item approached significance (p = 0.074); these isolated findings did not form a consistent cross-domain pattern. The findings indicate that the county-tier classification was useful for organizing place-based comparisons but did not consistently differentiate response patterns in this sample. Larger, longitudinal studies using neighborhood- and household-level measures are needed before tier-specific or causal conclusions can be drawn.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph23070856","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T03:06:34Z","timestamp":1782875194000},"page":"856","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Pandemic-Related Black Family Well-Being Across North Carolina County Tiers: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-6541-7021","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chima","family":"Okoli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrated Biosciences Doctoral Program, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-0898-3542","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tony Bawo","family":"Esimaje","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrated Biosciences Doctoral Program, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2412-9912","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nina","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Health and Sciences, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9333-9641","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Timothy J.","family":"Mulrooney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fredrick","family":"Johnson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and Physics, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"name":"The National African American Child and Family Research Center","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"362","DOI":"10.7326\/M20-6306","article-title":"Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19-related infections, hospitalizations, and deaths: A systematic review","volume":"174","author":"Mackey","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ann. 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