TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Research points to a link between the significance and meaning blacks attach to their race and mental and physical health. So University of Alabama assistant professor Wanda Martin Burton wondered if racial identity also had a role to play in explaining the persistent disparity between the birth weights among children of black mothers and their white counterparts.

Stress experienced by mothers can have an impact on birth weights, noted Burton, who is a faculty member in the College of Human and Environmental Science. Positive racial identity has been shown to act as a b...