Sociocultural perspectives on the stress process: The moderating effects of cultural coping resources.

Abstract

Economic stressors, family bonds, racial identity, and religiosity/spirituality have been identified as important factors in the stress processes of people of African descent. This research addressed the need for more sociocultural studies of the stress process and had the following points of focus: (1) to examine the life stress processes in two populations that are underrepresented in stress literature, (2) to understand the sociocultural context of stress within each population, and (3) to test models of the stress process positing that cultural factors unique to each group buffer the effects of stress on physical and mental health. Two separate studies of the stress process were conducted among People of African descent. In the first study, 172 Black South African women were interviewed about life stress, religiosity/spirituality, depression, and physical health concerns. A model positing that religiosity/spirituality buffered the effects of stress was tested. The results revealed that religiosity/spirituality buffered the effects of stress on physical health. In the second study, the stress processes of 262 African American adolescents were examined. The results revealed that religiosity/spirituality and a positive relationship with mother were associated with decreased delinquency among adolescents.