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Black’s Coping Responses to Racial Stress

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Abstract

The present study identified a plurality of coping responses, which provides a spectrum of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral strategies, both adaptive and maladaptive to combat the stresses of racism. These identified coping responses reflect a cognitive-contextual perspective, coined by the authors of this paper. This perspective reflects a combination of coping strategies that omit previous research which suggest mostly anger, depression, and anxiety as a possible response to perceived racial discrimination. These negative emotional responses are suggested to result in chronic physical and mental health risk. Current findings also support the need for examining these racism-coping phenomena from a biopsychosocial perspective. It would allow health practitioners information to treat individuals impacted by cultural stress from a holistic perspective and could be included as part of both mental and physical healthcare.

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Funding

This Study was funded by The National Institute of General Medical Science (NIGMS-NIH) Grant #1F31GM070069.

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  1. Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences, Psychology Unit, Hostos Community College, CUNY, 500 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY, 10451, USA

    Eugena K. Griffin

  2. Psychology Department, University of South Carolina, Barnwell College, Rm 429, Columbia, SC, USA

    Cheryl Armstead

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  1. Eugena K. Griffin
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Correspondence to Eugena K. Griffin.

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Dr. Eugena Griffin declares that she has no conflict of interest. Dr. Cheryl Armstead declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Griffin, E.K., Armstead, C. Black’s Coping Responses to Racial Stress. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 7, 609–618 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-019-00690-w

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