Abstract This study is informed by two questions: How can studying the biographies of Black middle-class women illustrate how early life experiences shape adulthood health and leisure choices? More specifically, what life course processes affect one’s ability and choice to become a recreational runner? Using life story data, I utilize two interrelated concepts from the life course perspective, cumulative processes and turning points, to highlight how both of these social processes affect decisions to running recreationally. For the women in the study whose running stories exemplify cumulative processes, their narratives focused on the continuation of middle-class health and leisure practices from childhood and adolescence. Other participants’ narratives centered on poignant biographical moments related to health that served as key turning points that significantly altered participants’ exercise trajectories in adulthood. This subset of women were oftentimes working class or poor as children. The findings of this study have implications for why it is important to take an intersectional, long-armed approach to understanding Black women’s health and leisure during adulthood.

中文翻译：

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黑人中产阶级妇女休闲跑步事业开始的人生历程

摘要本研究有两个问题：研究黑人中产阶级妇女的传记如何说明早期生活经历如何影响成年健康和休闲选择？更具体地说，人生过程中的哪些过程会影响一个人成为休闲跑步者的能力和选择？从生活历程的角度来看，我使用生活故事数据利用了两个相互关联的概念，累积过程和转折点，以突出这两个社会过程如何影响休闲娱乐决策。对于本研究中奔跑故事体现累积过程的女性，她们的叙述重点是延续从童年到青春期的中产阶级健康和休闲习惯。其他参与者的叙述集中在与健康有关的辛苦的传记式时刻上，这些时刻是关键转折点，大大改变了参与者成年后的运动轨迹。这部分妇女经常是工人阶级或贫穷的儿童。这项研究的发现暗示了为什么采用交叉，长臂的方法来理解黑人女性在成年期间的健康和休闲很重要。