black stress

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Living While Black: A State-Level Analysis of the Influence of Select Social Stressors on theQuality of Life among Black AmericansAuthor(s): Shaun L. Gabbidon and Steven A. PetersonReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Sep., 2006), pp. 83-102Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40034374 .

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LIVING WHILE BLACKA State-Level Analysis ofthe Influence of Select SocialStressors on the Quality ofLife Among Black AmericansSHAUNL. GABBIDONSTEVENA. PETERSON

PennsylvaniaStateUniversity,Harrisburg

This articleexamines the effects of select social stressorson thequalityoflife amongBlack Americans.Specifically, he authors reateda state-levelLivingWhile Blackindex,which includesthe Blackpoverty evelby state,the numberof Blackprisonersby state,the lack of access to healthcareperBlackpopulation,he Black infantmortality ate,the Black homiciderate,and dollarsperBlackpopulationof Black businesses.Using multivariatestatistical echniques, he authorscarriedout a first-order est of the influ-ence of thelivingwhile Black measureson aqualityof life indexcompris-ing the followingmeasures:numberof dayspermonth 5 or moredrinks,percentageof Blacksindicating heyhave mentalhealthproblems,suicideratesby state orBlacks,andyearsof life lostperstate orBlacks. The arti-cle concludesby discussingtheimplicationsof thefindingsanddirectionsforfutureresearch.Keywords: social stress; Black;AfricanAmericans;quality of life; liv-ing while Black

This article examines the role stress plays on the qualityof lifeamongBlack Americans.Forthepurposesof thisresearch, tress sdefinedasAUTHORS'NOTE:This article s a revision of a paperpresentedat the annualmeetingof the AmericanSocietyof Criminology,heldin Nashville, TN, Novem-ber 16-20, 2004.JOURNALOF BLACKSTUDIES,Vol. 37 No. 1, September2006 83-102DOI: 10.1177/0021934705277475 2006 Sage Publications

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84 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES SEPTEMBER 006

a situationnwhichaperson erceiveshathis orherresourcesreexceededesultingnpsychologicalndpsychosomaticymptoms.Anger, nxiety, nd rustrationanresultwhenan individualer-ceives hathe orshe s unable ocopewith hesituation runable omodifyhis orherresponseo thesituation.Seaton, 003,pp.292-293)

Considering heway in whichBlacks (Africans)arrivedn Amer-ica,elevated evels of stressamong hem ikelyhad tsorigins ntheslavetradeandthebrutal lavesystemthatwas the final destinationfor manyAfricans.Navigatingthe middle passage (the distancebetweenAfricaandAmerica)as forcedpassengersonshipsheadedto destiniesunknown,scholarshaveacknowledged hat the stressof thevoyagecaused some Blacks to go insane while otherscom-mittedsuicide nthe belief thatsuchactionwould save themfrom a"worse" ateawaiting hem(Poussaint& Alexander,2000).Unfortunately,enturies ater,stressremainsapartof the BlackAmericanexperience so muchso, that here s agrowingbodyofliterature hatexamines he dimensionsof the stressand the conse-

quencesof stress as it relatesto being Black (Seaton,2003). Bor-rowing from the work of Russell-Brown (2004), we call thisdynamic livingwhile Black. In herwork,she noted that there areseveralwaysthat"Blackskinexacts a social cost"(p. 108);that s,like Russell-Brown,we believe that there is a special burdenofbeingBlackinAmerica.As scholarshave notedbefore,attimes,inmoreways thanone, beingBlackin Americacanliterallybe haz-ardous o yourhealth(Russell, 1998,p. 144).Thereareavarietyof alarming tatisticsrelated o the healthsta-tus of Blacks.Forexample, n comparison o Whites,Blacks havethe lowestlife expectancyat 72.2 years(Kochanek&Smith,2004).Onaverage,Whites ive 5 years ongerthanBlacks. Whenseparat-ing these figuresout by gender,Black males have the lowest lifeexpectancyat68.9 yearswhileWhitefemales have thehighestlifeexpectancyat 80.2 years (Kochanek& Smith, 2004). Relatedly,Blacks havesome of thehighest prevalence atesfor diseases suchas diabetes,hypertension,andprostatecancer(Liaoet al., 2004).Recent figures from the criminaljustice system provide anequally disturbingportrait.Data from the 2003 National Crime


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Gabbidon,Peterson SOCIALSTRESSORSAND QUALITYOFLIFE 85

VictimizationSurvey (Catalano, 2004) shows that the violentcrimerate(whichincludesrapeand/or exualassault,robbery, ndassaults) or Blacks was severalpointshigher hanWhites(29.1vs.21.5). This trend was consistentduringthe 11-yearperiodfrom1993to 2003 (Catalano, 004). Inaddition, igures romthe annualFederalBureau of Investigation's FBI) Uniform CrimeReportsshows that Blacks areconsistentlyoverrepresentedn the arrestsfor more seriousoffenses,wheretheyaccount or50% of the mur-ders(includingnonnegligentmanslaughter), 4%of therobberies,34%of the forciblerapes,and34%of theaggravated ssaults Fed-eralBureauof Investigation,2003, p. 252). Finally,datafrom theDepartment f Justice shows that,in 2002, there were morethan600,000 Blacks incarcerated n prisons throughoutthe UnitedStates,while therewere about472,800 White,and250,000Hispanicinmates(Harrison& Beck, 2003).Consideringhe extentof the healthandcriminalustice-relatedissues in the Blackcommunity, cholarshavesoughtto determinetheiretiology.It is clear thatin the case of certaindisease-relatedconcerns,a portionof the acuteprevalencerates can be tracedtodiet; however,when one looks at the largerpicture,one wonderswhether the conditions, under which many (particularlypoor)Blackslive, manifest hemselves n theformof disease andmentalhealth ssues.Furthermore,he directand ndirectrole of discrimi-nation s another actorthat ikely plays some role. Because of theaforementionedstatistics, the criminaljustice system has alsocome underscrutiny.And as in the case of disease andmental ll-ness, one wouldget littleargumenthat Blackshave a hand n theetiology of the crime in theircommunityas evidencedby the factthatthey commit a disproportionate umberof violent offenses.However,race has also been found toplaya rolein theadministra-tion of criminal ustice (Gabbidon& TaylorGreene,2005; Mann,1993; Smith, 2004; Soss, Langbein,& Metelko,2003).Therefore,as is apparentromtheprecedingdiscussion,under-standingthe stressorsrelated to Black life is complex and, as aresult,has been investigatedby publichealthscholars,psycholo-gists, sociologists, andcriminologists.Followinga review of thisdiverseliterature,we review the natureand scope of the current


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study n the Method section. This is followedby a discussion sec-tionand our final thoughts n the conclusion.

LITERATUREREVIEW

PSYCHOLOGY SCHOLARSHIPON RACEAND STRESS AND/OR MENTAL HEALTHThestudyof the role of stressand ts impacton the mentalhealthof Black Americans s not new (Chunn,Dunston,& Ross-Sheriff,1983). As with the medicalliterature, he role of racism anddis-crimination s a central theme in the literature.ThompsonandNeville (1999)providedone of the morecomprehensive eviewsofthe racismand mentalhealth iterature.Theybegantheir workby

notingthatscholarshaverecognized hat hereare nstitutional ndattitudinaldimensions of racism. Summarizingresearchon thetopic, theywroteracism onsists f two nterlockingimensions:a)an nstitutionalmechanism f domination nd(b) a correspondingdeologicalbelief that ustifies heoppressionf peoplewhosephysical ea-turesandcultural atterns iffer rom hoseof thepolitically ndsociallydominantroup-Whites,p. 163)

Building on the work of Jones (1981), Thompsonand Neville(1999) also notedthatthereare threeforms of racismdiscussed nthe literature:ndividual, institutional,and cultural.In addition,they argued or a fourth,environmental acism.Individualracismrefers o individualactsof discrimination ndoften manifests tselfin the form of "personalacts to humiliateor degradean individ-uals) based on his or her racialgroupmembership, uch as name-calling or physicalabuse"(p. 166). Accordingto ThompsonandNeville "Institutionalracism generally refers to the policies,practices,and norms that incidentally,but inevitably,perpetuateinequality(i.e., restrict life opportunitiesof people of color)"(p. 167). Culturalracismresults n the belief thatWhiteculture ssuperior o othercultures.Thompsonand Neville described t this


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way:"This ormof racismoften results n limiting, pathologizing,exoticizing,or entirelyomittingthe culturalpracticesorvalues ofracial minorities"(pp. 167-168). Finally, environmentalracismrelatesto when policies andpracticesrelatedto the environmentplacecommunitiesof color in the midst of deadly pollutants.Each of the aforementioned orms of racismhas thepotential ohave animpacton the mentalhealthof BlackAmericans.As such,researchers ave studied he natureandthescopeof theimpactandways of copingwith the variousforms of racism.A review of theliteratureby Williams,Neighbors,andJackson(2003) identified53 studies thatinvestigatedassociationsbetweenrace and mentalhealth. The authorsclassified the natureof the researchreviewedinto several areas such as psychological well-being, self-esteem,control and/ormastery,psychologicaldistress,majordepression,anxietydisorder,and othermentaldisorder.Of the 47 studiestheyincluded ntheir inalreview, heyreportedhat38 found apositiveassociation,none found a negativeassociation,3 found a condi-tionalassociation,andonly6 foundnoassociation Williamset al.,2003, pp. 200-201).Someof the more recentpsychologicalscholarshipon race andmentalhealth ocus on diverseareassuch as stress ntheworkplace(Deitch et al., 2003), the adjustment of Black students atpredominantlyWhitecollegesanduniversitiesPWIs;Danoff-Burg,Prelow,& Swenson, 2004; Neville, Heppner,Ji, & Thye, 2004),andthe natureandscopeof race-related tress nAfricanAmericanyouth(Scott,2003; Seaton,2004). Animportant lement nthe lit-erature s the additional ocus of coping strategies.Thus,beyondidentifyingthatracism s prevalentn assortedsettings,the litera-ture also points to potentialcoping strategiesthat are meant toeither reduce the level of racism one is exposed to or provideameansthroughwhich one can attenuate he effect(s) of racism.According oThompsonandNeville (1999), most of thecopingstrategies prevalentin the literaturecan be divided in to fourapproaches:cognitive approach,behavioralapproach,cognitiveavoidance, and behavioral avoidance. The cognitive approachincludeshavingpeople engagein critical houghtaboutprevailingstereotypesand also seeks to provideaccurate nformation o chal-


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lenge negativeviews. The cognitive avoidantapproach"enablespeopleto avoidconfronting aceand, thus,maintainaninaccurateassessmentof one's environment"Thompson& Neville, p. 212).Those who use this approachgenerally denyracismexists or feelthatbecause t is inevitable"whybotheraddressingt."The behav-ioralapproachncludesdirectlyconfronting heproblem.Inprac-tice, this is typicallyachieved hrough he use of strategies uch ascultural mmersionwhere ndividuals mmerse hemselves n some-one else's culture,which, accordingto Thompsonand Neville,allows them to "obtainmore complex social attitudes" p. 213).Behavioralavoidancedescribessituationswherepeoplestay awayfromdirectly dealingwith race. By using this approach,and notdiscussing heirattitudes nrace,misconceptions ontinue o colortherace-related iews of peoplewho use the behavioralavoidancecopingstrategy Thompson& Neville, p. 212).PUBLIC HEALTHSCHOLARSHIP ON RACE AND STRESS

For sometime, it hasbeen suggestedthatstress,specificallyinthe form of racism,plays a role in the physical health of BlackAmericans.During he 1990s,two important tudiessoughtto testthis notion. Thefirst,by a teamof researchers t DukeUniversity(McNeilly et al., 1995), tested whether racial confrontationsbetween Black and White women contributed o higherrates ofhypertensionamongthe Black women. Makinguse of 30 Blackfemalevolunteers, he researchers ad themengagein two debateswith a Whiteperson.The first debate centeredon a controversialracialtopic, whereas the second debate centeredon a noncontro-versialtopicunrelated o race.The studyfound that"direct, nter-active confrontationwith racistprovocationcan elicit immediateandsignificant ncreases n BP [bloodpressure],HR [heartrate],andemotionalresponsesof anger,resentment, ynicism,and anxi-ety" (McNeilly et al., p. 335).Around he sametime, a moreexpansive studywas conductedthatalso looked at theimpactof chronicstressandracism.Kreigerand Sidney (1996) conducted a studyto "assessthe relationshipbetween self-reportedexperiences of racial discriminationand


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blood pressureand the contributionof racial discrimination oexplaining Black-White disparitiesin elevated blood pressure"(p. 1370).Thestudy,whichwas conductedoverseveralyears,andhadmore han4,000 Black andWhiteparticipants, sed aquestion-naire to gatherinformationon the participants' xperiencewithracialdiscriminationndunfair reatment.naddition,heresearch-ersnotedthe bloodpressureof theparticipants.Besides thefindingthat80%of the Blackparticipants eported xperiencing acialdis-crimination,ike the Duke study,the researchersalso found"thatracialdiscrimination hapespatternsof bloodpressureamongtheUS Blackpopulationand Black-White differences n blood pres-sure" (p. 1375). Since these two breakthroughstudies, otherresearchershave also investigated his link (e.g., BlackIssues inHigherEducation,2001).Steffen,McNeilly,Anderson,andSherwood 2003) also exam-ined the effects of perceivedracism on blood pressure amongBlacks.Intheirstudy,69 AfricanAmericanswererecruited opar-ticipate n thestudy.Sherwoodandhiscolleagues surveyed hepar-ticipantsregarding heirexperiencewith racism.Given the resultsof pastresearch, t was not surprisinghat94%of theparticipantsindicated heyhadexperiencedracismin their lifetime. To gaugethe impactof this racism,the researchersasked the participantsquestionsthat measured he impactof the inhibitionof angerandthe outwardexpression of anger on blood pressure.The studyshowedthat,during heday,perceivedracismwas related o bloodpressure. naddition, he researchers oted that"perceived acismwas positively correlatedwith angerinhibition ... but was notrelated o outwardlyexpressedanger" Steffenet al.,p. 748). Fur-thermore,he authors oundthatanger nhibitiondid notaffectthebloodpressureof Black Americanswhile theywere awake;how-ever,therewas animpactwhile theparticipants lept.Thisfindingsuggests that, although perceivedracism affects blood pressureduringthe day, angerinhibition n responseto racistprovocationtakes its toll when Blacks sleep. Thus,according o the authors,apartialexplanationas to why Blacks have a higherincidence ofhypertensionand hypertension-related iseases is because they


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90 JOURNALOF BLACKSTUDIES SEPTEMBER 006

internalize their anger from racist provocations(Steffen et al.,2003).Whilethese medicalstudiesshow somepromise orlinkinghighbloodpressure n Blacksto racism,other factors suchas environ-ment,diet,geneticfactors,and ncome are alsopotentialcontribu-torsto elevatedbloodpressureevels in Blacks.Nevertheless, hesestudiesshow thatstress, n the form ofracism, s alsoa contributor.We now turnourattention o studies hathave examined heimpactof stress on Blacksfroma criminologicalvantagepoint.CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINALJUSTICESCHOLARSHIP ON RACE AND STRESS

Thecriminological iterature n theimpactof stresson crime ssparse.An early pioneeringmacro-level work in the areais byLinskyand Straus 1986). Linskyand Straus estedthetheorythat"stressfulevents which vitally affect individuals are componentprocessesof the social systemitself. Theyarestructures ndvaryacross such systems and conform to patternsof relationship hatmaynot bepredictableromknowledgeabout ndividuals"p. 11).Usingsocialstress heoryas their oundation,heycreated heStateStressIndexto determine helinkbetween stress n socialsystems,crime,disease,andmaladaptiveehaviors. pecifically,heir esearchtestedthehypothesisthat "thehigherthe level of social stress,thehigherthe level of healthproblemsand crime"(p. 12). The studyfound that there was a relationshipbetween crime rates and statestress evels (see pp. 65-88). When the authorsexamined he statestress evels anddisease,theyfound a correlationwithonly 3 (per-foratedulcers, asthma,andrespiratory isease)of the 11 diseasestheyexamined p. 1 18). On the otherhand, heyfounda correlationbetween their state-levelstress index and all of their indicatorsofmaladaptive ehaviors uch asaccidents,alcoholism,heavysmok-ing, and suicide(p. 119). Overall,there was considerable upportfor authors'hypothesis.With hepublicationof Agnew's(1992)revisedversionof straintheory,criminaljustice scholarsbegan to considerthe role thatexposure o strain orstressful ituations) ouldplayintheetiology


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of criminalbehavior.Agnew believed that the removalor loss ofpositivestimuli nan environment ancontribute o criminalactivi-ties. As examplesof theremovalor loss of positivestimuli,Agnewmentioned hedeathof familymemberor a close friend, hesepara-tion of parents,andmovingto a new area.Thepresentation f nega-tive stimuli would includeexposureto events such as child abuseand neglect, negative relations with peers, adverse or negativeschool experiences, and a variety of other stressful life events(Agnew,1992).Therehasbeen considerable upport orAgnew'stheory e.g., seeAgnew&White, 1992;Aseltine, Gore,&Gordon,2000; Paternoster& Mazerolle,1994). In recentyears,the litera-turehas becomemorediverse, nvestigating ndfindingsupportortheapplicabilityof thetheoryto females(Broidy&Agnew, 1997;Elite, 2002; Katz, 2000; Leeper Piquero& Sealock,2004), racialminorities (Jang & Johnson, 2003; McClusky, 2002; Simons,Chen,&Stewart, 003),and nternationalopulationsBao,Haas,&Pi, 2004).Returningto the researchconcerning Agnew's theory as itrelates to race, Jang and Johnson (2003) sought to determinewhetherstrain heorywas applicable o a nationalsampleof 2,107AfricanAmericans.Whiletheydid findsupportor thetheory, heyalso found thatreligiositycanserveasa bufferagainst henegativeeffects of emotions(Jang& Johnson,2003). Simons et al. (2003;using longitudinaldata from the Familyand CommunityHealth

Study;see www.cfr.uga.edu.html.fachs.html)oundan associationbetween discriminationand delinquency.Theirresearchshowedthat,amongboys, discrimination ontributes o feelings of angerand depressionthat manifests itself in aggression. While theseresults held true for girls as well, the effect of discriminationwasless pronounced andsee Elite & Turner, 003).Each of the previouslyreviewed areas of scholarshipprovidesinsights nto thecomplexnatureof race and stress.Thescholarshipshowed thatthe impactof stress can be farreachingand,at times,affect the mental, physical, and sociological state of BlackAmericans.


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THE CURRENT STUDYGiven the varied literature hat looks at race and stress, wedecidedto conducta studythatcombinedseveralaspectsof thelit-erature eviewed.On thewhole,the current tudybuildson thepio-neeringwork on social stresstheoryby Linskyand Strauss 1986).However, hecurrent tudydiffersfrom theirwork n that t soughtto determinewhetherbeingBlackinAmericaexacts a "socialcost"through he exposureto severalsocial stressors hat can severelyaffect the qualityof life among Black Americans.As such, weinvestigated he following hypothesis:Hypothesis: Thehigherhe evelof select tate-levelocial tressorsrelated o Blacks,the lower the qualityof life amongBlackAmericans.

To examinethishypothesis,we constructeda LivingWhile Blackindexand a qualityof life index. These indexes are discussedfur-ther n the Method section.

METHODThe basic method of the currentstudy was comparative tateanalysis,usingthe 50 Americanstates as units of analysis(on this

method,see Blomquist,1999;Jacob & Vines, 1971).DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Thedependent ariables a summed ndexcomprising ourvari-ables,each of whichreflects one aspectof qualityof life:Chronicdrinkingproblems.The Centers for Disease Control(CDC)havecompileddataon the extent to which drinkingprob-lems exist for differentgroupsof Americansacrossthe 50 states(seehttp://cdc.gov).Thespecificdatarecorded tateby stateare hepercentage f AfricanAmericanshaving5 or moredrinksperday.


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Mental healthproblems.The KaiserFamilyFoundationpub-lished State Health Facts Online. One indicator used to assesshealth is a measure of the proportionof states'populationswith"poor"mentalhealth.This was assessedby askingasampleof peo-ple thefollowingquestion:"Forhowmanydays during hepast30dayswas yourmentalhealth not good?"There s a breakdownbydifferentpopulationsubsets,includingAfricanAmericans,whichserves as our measure.Suiciderate.TheCDC,throughts NationalVitalStatisticsSys-tem of the National Centerfor HealthStatistics recordedsuiciderateby stateamongAfrican Americans n 1998 to 1999 (suicidesper 100,000population).Yearsof life lost before age 75. CDC's NationalVital StatisticsSystemof the National Center orHealthStatisticshas developedan indexof yearsof life lost beforeage75. This is an indexthatcanbe used to determinewhat factorslead to a shorter ife spanthanwould be expected.Dataon AfricanAmericans rom1996to 1998(ageadjustedper100,000population)perstate s the variableusedhere.Each of thepreceding our variableswasdichotomized,witha score of 1 indicatingthat a state ranks at or higher than thenationalmean;0 indicates ess than he nationalmean.A maximumscore of 4 suggests poor qualityof life for AfricanAmericans n astate;a scoreof 0, of course,wouldtestifyto a much morepositivequalityof life.INDEPENDENTVARIABLES

A seriesof potentialstressorsassociatedwithlivingwhile Blackwere selectedto explorethe effect of these on qualityof life. Webeganwithsix variables hatappear obe valid indicatorsof stress-ful events.Numberof prisoners. Data on numbersof AfricanAmericanprisonersperstateweregatheredor 1997(U.S.Department f Jus-tice, 1998,p. 77). Then,we divided this numberby the numberofAfricanAmericans n each state,to providea comparable igureacrossthe states.


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Percentageof nonelderlywho are uninsured.The KaiserFoun-dation (n.d.) reportedon the percentageof nonelderlyAfricanAmericans n each statewithoutmedical insurance.We used datafrom 2001. This serves as a variableof the stressful situationofbeinguninsured.Sales andreceiptsof AfricanAmericanowned irms(inmillionsofdollars).The U. S. Department f Commerce,n Bureauof Cen-sus data rom1992,reportedhedollarvalueof AfricanAmerican-owned firms per state. We divided this amountby the AfricanAmericanpopulation o providea comparablebaseline from stateto state. This is one index of economic vitality in the AfricanAmericancommunity.Poverty evels. The Bureauof Census(2004) reported he num-ber of AfricanAmericansperstatewho live below thepoverty inefor 2000. Wedividedthisby the numberof AfricanAmericans neach state to get a percentage igureto enhancecomparability.Infantmortality ate.The2001 StatisticalAbstractof the UnitedStates(U.S. CensusBureau)was the primarydata sourcefor thismetric. This U.S. CensusBureaupublicationprovidesstate-leveldata on the infantmortalityrateper 1,000 live births for AfricanAmericans n 1998.Homicidedeaths: 1996-1998. Dataweregatheredon homicidesper 100,000population or 1996-1998by the CDC (1998).We conducted actoranalysison these six variables,reasoningthat heremightbeunderlyingdimensions hatwouldsimplifydataanalysis.Table1 shows the resultsof factoranalysis.We extractedprincipalcomponentsand then carriedout varimaxrotation.Onrotation, wo factorsemerged.The firstappears o captureacombinationof death and economic problems(business dollarsearneddividedby populationwas reversecoded, so thata higherscoreequated o poorerbusiness climate for AfricanAmericans).The fourvariablesoadingon this factor ncludepovertyrate,poorbusiness earnings(the economic dimension), and greaterdeath(infantmortalityandhomiciderates).Thesecondfactorcomprisedtwo variables:mprisonmentateand ack of access to health nsur-ance. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkinmeasureof samplingadequacy s.589, somewhat ow,but not a bad solution.Bartlett's est of sphe-


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TABLE 1Factor Analysis of Stressful Events (Varimax Rotation)

Variable FactorI Factor IIAfricanAmericanpovertyrate .659a .253AfricanAmericanprisoners' ate -.121 -.808aAfricanAmericanaccess to medicalcare -.197 .694aAfricanAmerican nfantmortalityrate .5 14a -.23 1Homicide rate .791a -.206AfricanAmericanbusiness dollarsperBlack population(lowest 50%) .604a .447bKaiser-Meyer-Olkinmeasureof samplingadequacy= .589Bartlett's est of sphericity= .099a. These factorcoefficientswere .5 or more.b. This factorcoefficient was from .4 to .5.

ricity is significant at .099. Subsequent data analysis revealed thatthe second factor had no relationship to the dependent variable;hence, only Factor I was used in analysis to come.Control variables were added to dataanalysis to ensure that find-ings are not spurious:

1 Age: Prior studies have suggestedthat older African Americansappearto handle stressful situations with less adverse conse-quences than White older Americans(e.g., Peterson & Somit,1994, pp. 112-114). Data from the 2000 Census (U.S. CensusBureau,2004) assess medianageof AfricanAmericansbystate.2. Education evel: Education s a key resource;studieshave indi-catedthat hose with bettereducationhave better ife chances andmoreresources o deal withproblemsof life.3. Policy liberalism:Erikson,Wright,and Mclver (1994) createdameasureof policy liberalism or the Americanstates.This indexcaptures he extentto which statepolicychoicesrepresentiberaldecisions,including n theareaof civil rights.A more liberalpol-icyenvironmentwouldappearo bemoreconducive oaddressingsome of the issues central o the stresses of living while Black.4. Religion: Literature ndicatesthatreligion can "buffer"peoplefrom the ill effects of life stress(e.g., Linsky& Strauss,1986).Hence, we gathereddata on the number of AfricanMethodist


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EpiscopalAME)churchesn each stateas well as AME.Zionchurches erstate datawereretrievedromhttp://netministries.org).Weaddedhe wo ogetheroreach tate, ividedhe otalbythepopulationf AfricanAmericansn thestate,andused theresultingumber s an ndexof socialbuffering gainsthe nvidi-ous effectsof stressfulife events.

FINDINGSMultivariatenalysiswas carriedout to determinef the index ofstressorsof everyday ife amongAfricanAmericanshas astrong ieto negativequalityof life. Table2 providesresults frommultipleregressionanalysis.Model 1 shows thesimplerelationshipbetween thefactorscorefor stressful ife events andthequalityof life index.Clearly, tress-

orshave a profoundeffect, as one wouldpredict.Thebetais .469,significantat the .01 level.When a set of independent ariables s added n Model2 (basedon theoryandpreliminary orrelational nalysis),we saw the fol-lowing:(a)highermedianageof AfricanAmericans educesnega-tivequalityof life; (b) stressors Factor ) are linked to an increas-ingly negativequalityof life. ThemultipleRis .565, withadjustedexplainedvariationat .229. Policy liberalismand education evel"washout" as predictors.Theoryandfindings ndicate hatbufferscanreduce he adverseeffects of stress.Inthisresearch,we usedreligiosityas a metricofsocialbuffering.Model 3 includes a bufferingvariable religios-ity.As one cansee, thisbuffer s associatedwith a less adverseneg-ativequalityof life;however, hefactorscorerepresentingtressorsstill has a majoreffect on thedependentvariable.

DISCUSSIONThis articlebeganby reviewingthe publichealth,psychology,andthe criminologyand criminal ustice literature hat looked atthe role stressplaysin the lives of Black Americans.Afterreview-


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TABLE 2Listwise Multiple Regression:Predicting Negative Quality of Life (N = 35)

IndependentVariable Model 1 Model2 Model 3Policy liberalism -.148 -.220AfricanAmericanmedianage -.266* -.259*AfricanAmericaneducation evel .112 .112Economic anddeath stressors Factor ) .469*** .398** .437***AME + AMZEby AfricanAmerican

population -.214*Multiple/? .469 .565 .598Adjustedmultiple/?2 .197 .229 .247SE .7940 .7781 .7689Significance .002 .009 .010NOTE:AME=AfricanMethodistEpiscopal;AMZE= AfricanMethodistEpiscopalZion .*p


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takingtheir lives or actuallycommit suicide. On the otherhand,could it be thatrace hassomething o do with the sales andreceiptsof Blackbusinesses? Some wouldarguethat is more difficultforBlacksto sustain heirbusinesses.Specifically, t is oftensuggestedthat tmightalso be moredifficult or Blacks tosecure heappropri-atefunds(i.e., loans)to run theirbusinesseseffectively.Althoughthe natureof our datacannotprovideclearanswers o theseques-tions,we suspectmore researchneeds to be donein this area.The findingthat the level of poverty s significantlycorrelatedwith infant mortalityrates and homicide rates is also not new.Thoseinpovertyhavetraditionally adless access toprenatal arethat is likely an important actor relatedto infantmortalityrates.These conditions are typically more prevalent n poor minoritycommunities.Furthermore,his findingalso clearlysupports heoverwhelmingbody of research hat shows thatpovertyand eco-nomicdisadvantage rerelated o seriouscrimes.Finally,anycom-munitywith such acute evels of poverty,andthe relatedhighratesof infantmortalityandhomicides,will havequalityof life issues.For example,chronicdrinking s likely an escape for those whohave ost a child or aredailyexposedtohomicides(oftenreferred oas covictimization).Similarly, or some, mental healthproblemslikely developfrom suchexposure.And it is likely that,for thosewho do not commitsuicide, the cumulativeeffect of exposuretothese deathstressors s yearstaken off one's life.The fact that the numberof prisonersand the percentageofnonelderlywho wereuninsureddid not correlatewith ourquality-of-life indexmighttell us a few things.First, t could be that,evenwith their overrepresentationn state prison populations,BlackAmericansdo not have a sense that t is inevitable hattheywill beincarceratedn their ifetime.Therefore, heirqualityof life is notsignificantlyaffectedby this situation.The findingrelatedto thenonelderlywho are noninsuredsuggests that Black Americansmightbe used to nothavinghealth nsurance; herefore,t doesnotaffect theirqualityof life in a significantway.It is also worthnotingthat social buffersmayreducesomewhatthe effects of these life stressors.Using an admittedly mperfectmeasure,the numberof churchesper state with largely African


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American membership,we did find buffering associated withlowernegativequalityof life.

CONCLUSIONAlthoughour state-levelanalysisshowedsupport or the socialstress perspective,and more specifically, the notion that livingwhile Black or being a Black Americandoes significantlyaffectone'squalityof life, therewereseveral imitationsof our research.We faced the frustration f missingvalues. Some stateshaveso fewAfricanAmericans hat data are so unreliable hat databasescodevaluesas "missing" e.g., the DakotasorIdaho).Futureresearchmightwantto add state-levelarrestdatato Liv-ing While Black index. The likelihood of being arrestedmightaffectmore thequalityof life amongBlackAmericans hanbeingincarcerated ecause Black Americansmightsee thisas more of apotentialoccurrence hanbeing incarcerated.n terms of depend-entvariables,we would like to addstress-relatedllnesses, such as

hypertension.We were unable to identifysourcesprovidingsuchdata,afterextensive searchesof databasesandthe use of thePenn-sylvaniaStateData Center.Fromapolicystandpoint, asedonstate-leveldatasuch asthese,statesmightwantto review theirpolicies relatedto several areas.Forinstance,statesmightwant to reviewif appropriateevels ofmonies are made available to burgeoning Black businesses.Relatedly, they might want to check to see if therehas been anexcessive amount of claims regardingdiscriminatoryoan prac-tices. Statesmightalso wantto insure hatcommunity-level linicshavethe resourcesrequired o provideadequateprenatal arethatcanlikely helpreduce heinfantmortality ate ntheBlack commu-nity. States also need to invest in funds that can trickle down tocommunity-levelprogramsaimed at keepingat-riskyouthout ofcriminalactivities.Suchprogramshave thepotential o reducethelikelihoodthatBlacks will be involved n seriouscrime.Evenwiththese approaches, t must be expectedthat,because of the socialstressorsdiscussed, Blacks will engage in chronicdrinkingand


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developmental healthproblems.As such, public healthofficialsneed toinsure hat hereareadequateevels of alcoholismandmen-talcounselingservices.Only through uch a comprehensive ffortcan the effect of living while Black be diminished.Indeed, webelieve thatthis researchmakes clear thatadverseeffects of livingwhileBlackpose a substantial ublichealth ssue. As such,effortsto amelioratethe negative consequences may prove to be cost-effective.Thus,publichealthstrategies,such as the interventionsmentionedabove,maywellpayforthemselvesoverthelongrun.

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ShaunL.Gabbidon s associateprofessorof criminal ustice in the SchoolofPublicAffairsat PennsylvaniaStateUniversityHarrisburg).His areasof interest ncluderace andcrime,privatesecurity,AfricanAmerican tudies,and criminalusticeedu-cation. His most currentpublicationis Race andJuvenileJustice(2005).StevenA.Peterson s directoroftheSchoolofPublicAffairsandProfessorofPoliticsandPublicAffairsatPennsylvania tateUniversity Harrisburg).Hisresearch nter-ests includeAmerican olitics,public opinion,biologyandpolitics,andpublicpolicy(AIDSpolicy and educationpolicy).He hasauthoredor coauthorednearly20 booksand more han100 ournalarticles,bookchapters,books,and soforth.He has servedaspresidentoftheNewYork tatePoliticalScienceAssociationand theNortheasternPolitical Science Association.

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