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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Eugena Kenyatta Griffin, MA, Clinical-Community Psychology, Ph.D. Program, University of South Carolina, Barnwell Building, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-4137, predestined2003@aol.com

Prior research has emphasized the role of emotion coping among African Americans exposed to racial stress, but the literature largely ignores the role of complex, strategic coping processes. The present study is phase one of a three phase project aimed at assessing and understanding coping behaviors utilized by middle aged African Americans (30-55 years of age) in response to racial stress and its association or prevention of various cardiovascular diseases. For phase one, it was our goal to extend the current body of research by examining narrative accounts of coping styles used by this population to deal with racial stress. Individuals in eight focus groups (N=89) in Brooklyn, New York responded to a semi-structured interview assessing racial stress coping. This study explored the relative efficacy of affective or cognitive-contextual theoretical stances in representing coping themes reported by African American adults when asked how they respond to racial stress. The majority of respondents reported coping with several forms of chronic, everyday racism. Major themes in racial stress coping representing seven general domains of coping were identified: (1) avoidance coping, (2) overall mistrust of whites, (3) assimilation, (4) humiliation, (5) physical reactivity, (6) problem-focused coping, and (7) emotional coping. The results of the study supported a cognitive-contextual theoretical stance, which suggests that the coping styles are contextually based and represent cognitive adaptation, as well as emotional coping.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) will be able to

• Identify the seven domains of coping responses utilized by African Americans in response to racial stress;
• Recognize that African Americans utilize a combination of coping styles in response to racial stress, which vary depending on the event and its location;
• Discuss ways in which their personal experiences with racism elicited some of the identified coping behaviors and how it may have impinged on their health.

Keywords: Coping, Stress

Related Web page: hometown.aol.com/griffeuge/myhomepage/profile.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No