Everyday Life for Black American Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the stress process in Black Americans by exploring chronic stress, emotions, age, body mass index, and blood pressure within the context of gender and socioeconomic position (SEP). The convenience sample of middle-class Black Americans ( N = 211) ranged from ages 25 to 79 years. A sociopsychophysiological model of everyday life for Black American adults was tested using structural equation modeling. The model explained 27% of the variance in systolic and 17% of the variance in diastolic blood pressure. SEP had a significant effect on chronic stress, and chronic stress had a significant effect on negative affect. Although men had lower negative affect scores than women, men’s diastolic blood pressures were on average 4 mm Hg higher than women’s. These findings are useful to the development and implementation of interventions to eliminate health disparities and improve years of healthy life for Black Americans.