About

Sebastian S. James is a Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He is also an affiliate of the Duke Center for International Development. His contact information includes an email address at sebastian.james@duke.edu and a physical office located at 276 Rubenstein Hall, 201 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708. His role involves engaging in public policy education and research, contributing to the academic community at Duke University.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Demography
• Environmental health
• Sociology
• Gerontology
• Internal medicine
• Ethnology
• Cardiology

Selected publications

• Socioeconomic Disadvantage, John Henryism, and Incident Heart Failure in the Jackson Heart Study

  Circulation Population Health and Outcomes · 2026-03-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: For reasons not fully understood, Black adults experience more socioeconomic disadvantages (SED) than their White counterparts, as well as earlier onset and greater mortality from heart failure (HF). The John Henryism hypothesis predicts that repeated high-effort coping, that is, John Henryism (JH), with socioeconomic adversity can accelerate cardiovascular aging, thus increasing the risk for HF. METHODS: The analysis sample consisted of participants from the JHS (Jackson Heart Study), a cohort of Black adults from the Jackson, Mississippi Metropolitan area. The analysis sample included participants with no cardiovascular disease at baseline (2000-2004) with complete SED and JH scores. Indicators of SED included low household income, low educational attainment, and low maternal educational attainment scores. JH scores (0-36) were categorized as low (<28), moderate (29-32), and high (>32). Effect moderation of JH in the SED and incident HF association was assessed using interaction terms and stratification. Proportional hazards regression determined the hazard ratio and 95% CI, and models adjusted for age, sex, and established lifestyle risk factors. RESULTS: =0.04). For every 1-unit increase in income disadvantage score, the risk of HF increased 2-fold among those with high JH (hazard ratio, 2.00 [95% CI, 1.39-2.86]) after full adjustment. Among participants with low JH, the corresponding unadjusted association was hazard ratio, 1.40 [95% CI, 1.04-1.90], but this association attenuated after adjusting for age and sex (hazard ratio, 1.19 [95% CI, 0.87-1.63]). CONCLUSIONS: The association between income disadvantage and HF differed by JH level. Because SED and high JH tend to co-occur, both should be considered in future research aiming to decrease the burden of HF in Black Americans.

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• Molecular epidemiology of Dengue virus infection among febrile patients in Ilorin, Nigeria

  Tropical Journal of Health Sciences · 2025-05-12

  articleOpen access

  Dengue is one of the viruses that has been established to be responsible for many febrile cases but most febrile illnesses are often misdiagnosed as malaria and typhoid in Nigeria due to the endemicity of malaria and typhoid. Most of the available data on the circulation of dengue virus in Nigeria were obtained from the less specific and less sensitive serological investigations. We assessed the prevalence of dengue virus and determined its association between socio-demographic factors in three health facilities in three local governments in Ilorin, Nigeria. This cross-sectional study therefore employed molecular technique to provide a specific and more sensitive data on the prevalence of dengue virus infection among febrile patients in Ilorin, Nigeria. We recruited 110 febrile patients from three health facilities in three local governments Areas within Ilorin Metropolis. The patients' blood were collected and transferred immediately to the Molecular Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Ilorin for Molecular analysis. One-step RT-PCR was performed using Bosphore Dengue- Chikungunya Detection Kit to detect the presence of dengue virus RNA in the blood of the recruited patients. The results showed 8.2% positive for RT -qPCR detection of dengue virus with no statistically significant relationship between all tested socio-demographic factors. Specifically, 12.5% of patients recruited from General Hospital, Ilorin were positive for RT-qPCR detection of dengue virus infection, 6.7% from Civil Service Hospital Ilorin and 3.13% from University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. We recommend routine procedural investigations for Dengue virus infection among patients with febrile illness in our hospitals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Clinical characteristics, management and outcomes of enterococcal infective endocarditis: an ancillary study from the ESC-EORP EURO-ENDO registry

  European Heart Journal - Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes · 2025-11-26 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  AIMS: Enterococcal infective endocarditis (EIE) represents a growing proportion of infective endocarditis (IE) cases, particularly among elderly and comorbid patients. EIE poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, notably regarding optimal antimicrobial therapy and surgical decision-making. We aimed to compare the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of EIE vs. non-enterococcal IE (NEIE) in the ESC-EORP EURO-ENDO registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: This ancillary analysis of the prospective EURO-ENDO registry included adult patients with definite or possible IE enrolled between January 2016 and March 2018. Patients with monomicrobial EIE were compared with those with NEIE. Clinical, microbiological, imaging, and therapeutic data were analysed. Multivariable logistic regression including EuroSCORE II and valve status identified independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. Among 3083 patients, 365 (12%) had monomicrobial EIE. Compared with NEIE, EIE patients were older (mean 68 vs. 58 years), had more comorbidities, and more frequent prosthetic valve involvement (41% vs. 26%). Aortic valve localization and colonic uptake on PET/CT were also more common. In-hospital mortality was similar (16% vs. 17%). After adjustment for EuroSCORE II and valve status, EIE was not independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality (adjusted OR 0.67 [95% confidence interval 0.42-1.04]; P = 0.083). Among 195 EIE patients with 1-year follow-up, recurrence occurred in 6%. Healthcare-associated acquisition, prosthetic valve infection, and recurrence were associated with worse outcomes and lower surgical rates. CONCLUSION: EIE affects older, high-risk patients. After adjustment for operative risk, mortality was comparable to other aetiologies, highlighting the need for tailored diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

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• Discrimination, chronic stress, and cardiovascular health among African American men and women in the Jackson Heart Study: A cross-sectional study

  Social Science & Medicine · 2025-07-27

  articleOpen accessCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Maternal knowledge and practices of factors associated with obesity of children under five

  Journal of Consumer Sciences · 2025-03-28

  articleOpen access

  Early activity and eating patterns can lead to obesity and determine patterns later in life. Research on activity and food parenting practices for young children is scarce. The aim of this article is to describe the knowledge and practices that may lead to obesity in mothers and children under the age of five at seven public health centres in the Eastern Cape. A quantitative study with a convenience sample of 142 mothers was used. Fieldworkers assisted mothers in completing a questionnaire. Excel (2016) and SPSS version 28.0 were used for descriptive statistics, and Pearson Chi-square tests determined associations. From the results, none of the mothers met the recommendations for daily moderate activity; only 14.7% of the children were moderately active, while 32% demonstrated excessive television time. Food is most often boiled (83.8%) with salt added (54.9%). Sweet snacks (34.4%), sugar-sweetened beverages (31.6%) and savoury snacks (44.4%) were consumed often. Fruit and vegetables were eaten once or more daily by only 49.3% and 13.4% of the children, respectively. Emphasis on preparing food at home and eating fruit and vegetables in educational programmes is encouraged. This can assist mothers in gaining the correct knowledge and skills, to prevent obesity in children and later in life.

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• Fatigue by the Chalder Questionnaire and post-hemodialysis recovery in a population of predominantly African descent: The PROHEMO

  The International Journal of Artificial Organs · 2024-06-01 · 3 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: A high prevalence of fatigue and a positive association between fatigue and post-hemodialysis recovery have been reported in predominantly white populations of maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. The present study evaluates associations between self-reported fatigue by the 11-item Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ-11) and the need for post-hemodialysis recovery in a predominantly African-descent MHD population. METHODS: A total of 233 patients (94% Black or Mixed-Race) participating in the "Prospective Study of the Prognosis of Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis" (PROHEMO), Salvador, Brazil were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The CFQ-11 was used to measure fatigue: <4 for absent or mild, ⩾4 for moderate to severe. Patients were also asked if they needed some time to recover after the hemodialysis. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) of the association with adjustments for age, sex, race, educational level, economic class level, diabetes, hearth failure, and hemoglobin. RESULTS: Mean age was 51.5 ± 12.5 years. Moderate to severe fatigue (⩾4 points) was observed in 70.8% (165/233), and absent or mild fatigue (<4 points) in 29.2% (68/233). Compared to patients with fatigue scores <4 (20.6%), the need for post-hemodialysis recovery was 2.5 times greater in patients with fatigue scores ⩾4 (52.7%). The covariate-adjusted logistic regression OR was 4.60, 95% CI: 2.27, 9.21. CONCLUSION: This study in MHD patients of predominantly African descent supports self-reported fatigue assessed by the CFQ-11 as a relevant predictor of the need for post-hemodialysis recovery. The results offer a rationale for investigating whether interventions to prevent fatigue reduce the need of post-hemodialysis recovery.

  PublisherDOI

• High effort coping with adversity: Validation of the John Henryism Personality Construct in India

  2024-09-14

  preprintSenior author

  Objectives: The personality construct, John Henryism (JH), connotes a strong behavioral predisposition to engage in high-effort coping with systemic adversity such as poverty and race/ethnicity or gender-based discrimination. John Henryism is measured by the 12-item John Henryism Active Coping (JHAC) Scale developed in the 1980s for research on stress-related health inequities in the United States. Since then, interest in the JHAC for research with populations in other countries has grown. This study is the first to investigate the construct validity of the JHAC in the Indian context. Methods: Adults aged 18-65 years completed the English (N=1756) or Hindi (N=303) version of the JHAC on-line or in-person. Since high JHAC scores connote psychological resilience, good convergent validity would be demonstrated by high, positive correlations with established measures of psychosocial well-being such as approach behaviors, self-rated health, self-efficacy, conscientiousness, and extraversion. Conversely, good divergent validity would be demonstrated by high, negative correlations with established measures of neuroticism, psychological distress, and avoidance behaviors. Results: Both the English and Hindi versions of the JHAC had acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach alphas = 0.67-0.78). The English-JHAC had good 3-month test-retest reliability (r= 0.71). Scores on both the English and Hindi JHAC showed unidimensional factorial validity and construct validity coefficients were in line with a priori hypotheses. Conclusion: The English and Hindi versions of the JHAC are reliable, valid, and easy-to-use tools for psychological research on stress, coping, and health inequities in India.

  PublisherDOI

• 14. John Henryism, Systemic Racism, and the Cardiometabolic Health of Black Americans

  American Public Health Association eBooks · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Emergence of college students’ John Henryism during schoolwork: an exploratory study

  Educational Psychology · 2023-07-03 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  John Henryism (JH), named after the American folk hero John Henry, is a construct characterised by a behavioural predisposition for high-effort coping with psychosocial stressors. While it has been rigorously studied in the health sciences, little empirical research has focused on how JH emerges within educational contexts, specifically during schoolwork. This exploratory study investigated factors related to JH—race/ethnicity, gender, first-generation college student status, and high-effort coping—on school-based cognitive and emotional engagement. Results revealed that high JH scores predicted positive cognitive and emotional momentary engagement, particularly for racial/ethnic minorities and first-generation college students. Furthermore, in comparing our subsample of first-generation females with our overall sample of female students, we learned that JH had a greater positive influence on first-generation females' momentary engagement than on that of the overall sample of female students. Findings suggest that historically marginalised groups may regularly rely on JH to cope with systemic inequality in school activities.

  PublisherDOI

• Foreword

  SUNY Press eBooks · 2023-10-01

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  One ever feels his two-ness-an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.-W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk 2 With a nod to the great W. E. B. Du Bois, in African American Coping in the Political Sphere, Sullivan and Harman present a fascinating portrait of the "two-ness" in the souls of African Americans more than 100 years after Du Bois's characteristically astute observation.The authors' comprehensive analysis of data from the National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative sample of African Americans conducted between 2001 and 2003, revealed, among other things, how much African Americans believe in the American Dream (does hard work lead to success?); the diversity of their political ideologies (are you conservative, moderate, or liberal?); and the degree of their support for various social policies designed to mitigate or undo historical racial injustices (do you support reparations for slavery?).Sullivan and Harman break entirely new ground, however, by positing that the degree to which individual African Americans say they confront adversity with high-effort coping, by which is meant with energy, optimism, and a determination to succeed, influences their political ideology, their social policy preferences, and whether they are actively engaged in the political arena.As a cutting-edge work in Black political psychology, African American

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Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HL033211

  NIH · $2.9M · 1997

• NIH Grant K04HL001011

  NIH · $98k · 1988

• NIH Grant R01HL065645

  NIH · $1.9M · 2006

Frequent coauthors

• S. Stephen Kegeles

  61 shared

• Suezanne Tangerose Orr

  55 shared

• Earl Siegel

  50 shared

• Donovan Teele

  Columbia University

  49 shared

• W. Benson

  Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

  49 shared

• Jennifer L. Kelsey

  California Animal Hospital

  49 shared

• John W. Knutson

  49 shared

• William Starfield

  Kaiser Permanente

  49 shared

Education

• PhD, Psychology

  Washington University in St Louis

  1973