Stress and Stress Measurement
Older Black Americans report more exposure to chronic stressors like health problems, relationship stress, housing and financial insecurity, and caregiving strain relative to other race/ethnic groups that undoubtedly have consequences for their mental health and well-being. Yet, using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study, we found that older Black Americans also appraise chronic stress exposure as less upsetting relative to white Americans suggesting they respond to stress differently, adapting to differential historical and current lived experiences. Incorporating stress appraisal into health disparities research may help us understand the similar or lower rates of depressive and anxiety disorders among Blacks relative to whites despite large disparities in stress exposure and physical health in mid and late life—commonly referred to as the Black-white mental health paradox. It is essential to center stress and stress measurement in the Black and Brown experience to capture the unique hardships and coping mechanisms used to sustain mental & physical wellbeing as they age. Black elders facing chronic stresses like health, financial and housing adversity may downplay the role these stresses play in their daily lives in order to cope with them. Practice and Policy implications of this work suggest financial and housing security should be recognized as fundamental rights for elders, especially Black elders, who are disproportionally exposed to these chronic hardships that wear on mental and physical wellbeing.
Publications (full list on google scholar)
Lauren L. Brown; Abrams, Leah; Mitchell, Uchechi A.; Ailshire, Jennifer, A. (2020) “Measuring more than exposure: Does stress appraisal matter for Black-white differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms among Older Adults.” Innovation in Aging. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa040
Lauren L. Brown; Mitchell, Uchechi A; Ailshire, Jennifer, A. (2020) “Disentangling the stress process: Race and ethnic differences in the experience of chronic stress among older adults.” The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 75, Issue 3, Pages 650-660, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gby072
Lauren L. Brown; Tucker-Seeley, Reginald. (2018) “Will ‘deaths of despair’ [among whites] change how we talk about racial/ethnic health disparities.” Ethnicity & disease, 28(2), 123–128. https://doi.org/10.18865/ed.28.2.123