Explaining African-Americans’ depressive symptoms: A stress-distress and coping perspective

Abstract

Findings from five community surveys suggest that the depressive symptom scores of African-Americans are the same as, or lower than, those of Whites. This seems at odds with the minority status hypothesis that predicts higher rates of mental disorders for African-Americans. However, little is known about the role of African-American coping capacity during the life stress process which may shed light on the seeming contradiction. This cross-sectional survey examined the role of spirituality-coping, sense of control, and stress in predicting depressive symptoms among 3570 African-Americans. The findings showed that sense of control mediates the relationship between spirituality, life stressors, and depressive symptoms.