Ethnic Minorities

Abstract

This article examines the various types of life stresses that members of racial minority groups experience. A model of the life stress process is presented, and several hypotheses are offered to describe the situation of members of ethnic minority groups with respect to life stress. Propositions leading toward a cross-cultural theory of life stress, ethnicity, and culture are presented. A dominant theme is that culture forms the context in which stressful life events derive their meaning. Each culture has its own barometer for measuring the stressfulness of any life event. There are culturally patterned ways of viewing and responding to stressor stimuli. The Stress, Resistant, Delivery (SRD) model is presented as a theoretical framework for counseling members of ethnic minority groups.