Costs of Mobility: Examining the Effects of Racial Discrimination and John Henryism on Depression among African Americans in a Nationally Representative Sample

Researchers have highlighted the importance of recognizing racial discrimination as a unique stressor that blacks encounter, linking experiences of discrimination to diminished mental health. For instance, Kessler and colleagues (1999) argue that the experience of racial discrimination is highly stressful, ranking in significance with other major stressful life events such as job loss and bereavement. Findings from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), which includes a nationally representative sample of black Americans (n=3,570), indicate that those blacks with higher incomes and more education report greater levels of racial discrimination. John Henryism is described as a strong behavioral predisposition to cope actively with psychosocial environmental stressors (James, 2002). While James and other researchers find higher levels of John Henryism among blacks of lower socioeconomic status (SES) (Bonham et al., 2004; James et al., 1992) others find greater levels of John Henryism among higher SES blacks (Light et al., 1995). Do blacks of higher SES, as defined by income and education, report greater levels of high effort coping assessed by James' John Henryism Active Coping Scale? Furthermore, while researchers have provided empirical evidence for a link between John Henryism and hypertension, there are limited investigations of the effect of John Henryism upon depression. This paper presents findings from the NSAL that will help determine whether higher SES blacks engage in greater levels of high effort coping compared to lower SES blacks. Analyses will also help determine the effect of John Henryism upon depression among a nationally representative sample of black Americans.