RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH

TLDR

Despite the widespread assumption that racial differences in stress exist and that stress is a key mediator linking racial status to poor health, relatively few studies have explicitly examined this premise. The study examines stress distribution across Black, Hispanic, and White adults and evaluates how stress vulnerability and exposure explain racial health differences, and discusses implications for future research and policy. The authors used a modeling strategy that accounts for correlations among stressor types and their cumulative accumulation to predict health outcomes. Significant racial differences were found in overall and cumulative exposure to eight stress domains, with Blacks and American‑born Hispanics showing higher prevalence and clustering of high stress scores than Whites, while foreign‑born Hispanics resembled Whites; multiple stressors, especially financial and relationship stressors, correlated with poorer physical and mental health, and the stress‑exposure hypothesis explained some racial health disparities, though the stress‑vulnerability hypothesis was unsupported.

Abstract

Despite the widespread assumption that racial differences in stress exist and that stress is a key mediator linking racial status to poor health, relatively few studies have explicitly examined this premise. We examine the distribution of stress across racial groups and the role of stress vulnerability and exposure in explaining racial differences in health in a community sample of Black, Hispanic, and White adults, employing a modeling strategy that accounts for the correlation between types of stressors and the accumulation of stressors in the prediction of health outcomes. We find significant racial differences in overall and cumulative exposure to eight stress domains. Blacks exhibit a higher prevalence and greater clustering of high stress scores than Whites. American-born Hispanics show prevalence rates and patterns of accumulation of stressors comparable to Blacks, while foreign-born Hispanics have stress profiles similar to Whites. Multiple stressors correlate with poor physical and mental health, with financial and relationship stressors exhibiting the largest and most consistent effects. Though we find no support for the stress-vulnerability hypothesis, the stress-exposure hypothesis does account for some racial health disparities. We discuss implications for future research and policy.