Do Racial Differences in Coping Resources Explain the Black-White Paradox in Mental Health? A Test of Multiple Mechanisms

Overview

Journal J Health Soc Behav

Specialty Social Sciences

Date 2021 Sep 22

PMID 34549645

Citations 22

Authors

Patricia Louie

Laura Upenieks

Christy L Erving

Courtney S Thomas Tobin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A central paradox in the mental health literature is the tendency for black Americans to report similar or better mental health than white Americans despite experiencing greater stress exposure. However, black Americans' higher levels of certain coping resources may explain this finding. Using data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (n = 1,186), we examine whether black Americans have higher levels of self-esteem, social support, religious attendance, and divine control than white Americans and whether these resources, in turn, explain the black-white paradox in mental health. In adjusted models, the black-white paradox holds for depressive symptoms and any disorder. Findings indicate that black Americans have higher levels of self-esteem, family social support, and religiosity than white Americans. Causal mediation techniques reveal that self-esteem has the largest effect in explaining black-white differences in depressive symptoms, whereas divine control has the largest effect in explaining differences in disorder.

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