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Journal of Black Studies

DOI: 10.1177/00219347052774752006; 37; 83Journal of Black Studies

Shaun L. Gabbidon and Steven A. PetersonAmericans

Select Social Stressors on the Quality of Life Among BlackLiving While Black: A State-Level Analysis of the Influence of

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10.1177/0021934705277475JOURNALOFBLACKSTUDIES/SEPTEMBER2006Gabbidon,Peterson/ SOCIALSTRESSORSANDQUALITYOFLIFE

LIVING WHILE BLACK

A State-Level Analysis ofthe Influence of Select Social

Stressors on the Quality of

Life Among Black Americans

SHAUN L. GABBIDON

STEVEN A. PETERSONPennsylvania State University, Harrisburg

This article examines the effects of select social stressors on the quality of

life among Black Americans. Specifically, the authors created a state-level

Living While Black index, which includes the Black poverty level by state,

the number of Black prisoners by state, the lack of access to health care per

Black population, the Black infant mortality rate, the Black homicide rate,

and dollars per Black population of Black businesses. Using multivariatestatistical techniques, the authors carried out a first-order test of the influ-

ence of the living while Black measures on a quality of life index compris-

ing the following measures: number of days per month 5 or more drinks,

percentage of Blacks indicating they have mental health problems, suicide

rates by state for Blacks, and years of life lost per state for Blacks. The arti-

cle concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and directions

for future research.

Keywords: social stress; Black; African Americans; quality of life; liv-ing while Black

This article examines the role stress plays on the quality of life

among Black Americans.For the purposes of this research, stress is

defined as

83

AUTHORS NOTE: This article is a revision of a paper presented at the annual

meeting of the American Society of Criminology, held in Nashville, TN, Novem-

ber 16-20, 2004.

JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES, Vol. 37 No. 1, September 2006 83-102

DOI: 10.1177/0021934705277475

2006 Sage Publications

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a situation in which a person perceives that his or her resources areexceeded resulting in psychological and psychosomatic symptoms.Anger, anxiety, and frustration can result when an individual per-ceives that he or she is unable to cope with the situation or unable tomodify his or her response to the situation. (Seaton, 2003, pp. 292-293)

Considering the way in which Blacks (Africans) arrived in Amer-

ica, elevated levels of stress among themlikely had its origins in the

slave trade and the brutal slave system that was the final destination

for many Africans. Navigating the middle passage (the distance

between Africa and America) as forced passengers on ships headed

to destinies unknown, scholars have acknowledged that the stress

of the voyage caused some Blacks to go insane while others com-

mitted suicide in the belief that such action would save them from a

worse fate awaiting them (Poussaint & Alexander, 2000).

Unfortunately, centuries later, stress remains a part of the Black

American experienceso much so, that there is a growing body of

literature that examines the dimensions of the stress and the conse-quences of stress as it relates to being Black (Seaton, 2003). Bor-

rowing from the work of Russell-Brown (2004), we call this

dynamic living while Black. In her work, she noted that there are

several ways that Black skin exacts a social cost (p. 108); that is,

like Russell-Brown, we believe that there is a special burden of

being Black in America. As scholars have noted before, at times, in

more ways than one, being Black in America can literally be haz-

ardous to your health (Russell, 1998, p. 144).There are a variety of alarming statistics related to the health sta-

tus of Blacks. For example, in comparison to Whites, Blacks have

the lowest life expectancyat 72.2 years (Kochanek & Smith, 2004).

On average, Whites live 5 years longer than Blacks. When separat-

ing these figures out by gender, Black males have the lowest life

expectancy at 68.9 years while White females have the highest life

expectancy at 80.2 years (Kochanek & Smith, 2004). Relatedly,Blacks have some of the highest prevalence rates for diseases such

as diabetes, hypertension, and prostate cancer (Liao et al., 2004).

Recent figures from the criminal justice system provide an

equally disturbing portrait. Data from the 2003 National Crime

84 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2006



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Victimization Survey (Catalano, 2004) shows that the violent

crime rate (which includes rape and/or sexual assault, robbery, and

assaults) for Blacks was several points higher than Whites (29.1 vs.21.5). This trend was consistent during the 11-year period from

1993 to 2003 (Catalano, 2004). In addition, figures from the annual

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports

shows that Blacks are consistently overrepresented in the arrests

for more serious offenses, where they account for 50% of the mur-

ders (including nonnegligent manslaughter), 54% of the robberies,

34% of the forcible rapes, and 34% of the aggravated assaults (Fed-

eral Bureau of Investigation, 2003, p. 252). Finally, data from the

Department of Justice shows that, in 2002, there were more than

600,000 Blacks incarcerated in prisons throughout the United

States, while there wereabout 472,800 White, and 250,000 Hispanic

inmates (Harrison & Beck, 2003).

Considering the extent of the health and criminal justicerelated

issues in the Black community, scholars have sought to determine

their etiology. It is clear that in the case of certain disease-relatedconcerns, a portion of the acute prevalence rates can be traced to

diet; however, when one looks at the larger picture, one wonders

whether the conditions, under which many (particularly poor)

Blacks live, manifest themselves in the form of disease and mental

health issues. Furthermore, the direct and indirect role of discrimi-

nation is another factor that likely plays some role. Because of the

aforementioned statistics, the criminal justice system has also

come under scrutiny. And as in the case of disease and mental ill-ness, one would get little argument that Blacks have a hand in the

etiology of the crime in their community as evidenced by the fact

that they commit a disproportionate number of violent offenses.

However, race has also been found to play a role in the administra-

tion of criminal justice (Gabbidon & Taylor Greene, 2005; Mann,

1993; Smith, 2004; Soss, Langbein, & Metelko, 2003).

Therefore, as is apparent from the preceding discussion, under-standing the stressors related to Black life is complex and, as a

result, has been investigated by public health scholars, psycholo-

gists, sociologists, and criminologists. Following a review of this

diverse literature, we review the nature and scope of the current

Gabbidon, Peterson / SOCIAL STRESSORS AND QUALITY OF LIFE 85



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study in the Method section. This is followed by a discussion sec-

tion and our final thoughts in the conclusion.

LITERATURE REVIEW

PSYCHOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP ON RACE

AND STRESS AND/OR MENTAL HEALTH

The study of the roleof stress and its impacton the mental health

of Black Americans is not new (Chunn, Dunston, & Ross-Sheriff,

1983). As with the medical literature, the role of racism and dis-

crimination is a central theme in the literature. Thompson and

Neville (1999) provided one of the more comprehensive reviews of

the racism and mental health literature. They began their work by

noting that scholars have recognized that there are institutional and

attitudinal dimensions of racism. Summarizing research on the

topic, they wrote

racism consists of two interlocking dimensions: (a) an institutionalmechanism of domination and (b) a corresponding ideologicalbelief that justifies the oppression of people whose physical fea-tures and cultural patterns differ from those of the politically andsocially dominant group-Whites. (p. 163)

Building on the work of Jones (1981), Thompson and Neville

(1999) also noted that there are three forms of racism discussed in

the literature: individual, institutional, and cultural. In addition,

they argued for a fourth, environmental racism. Individual racism

refers to individual acts of discrimination and often manifests itself

in the form of personal acts to humiliate or degrade an individ-

ual(s) based on his or her racial group membership, such as name-

calling or physical abuse (p. 166). According to Thompson and

Neville Institutional racism generally refers to the policies,practices, and norms that incidentally, but inevitably, perpetuate

inequality (i.e., restrict life opportunities of people of color)

(p. 167). Cultural racism results in the belief that White culture is

superior to other cultures. Thompson and Neville described it this




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lenge negative views. The cognitive avoidant approach enables

people to avoid confronting race and, thus, maintain an inaccurate

assessment of ones environment (Thompson & Neville, p. 212).Those who use this approach generally deny racism exists or feel

that because it is inevitable why bother addressing it. The behav-

ioral approach includes directly confronting the problem. In prac-

tice, this is typically achieved through the use of strategies such as

cultural immersion where individuals immerse themselves in some-

one elses culture, which, according to Thompson and Neville,

allows them to obtain more complex social attitudes (p. 213).

Behavioral avoidance describes situations where people stay away

from directly dealing with race. By using this approach, and not

discussing their attitudes on race, misconceptions continue to color

the race-related views of people who use the behavioral avoidance

coping strategy (Thompson & Neville, p. 212).

PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOLARSHIP ON RACE AND STRESS

For some time, it has been suggested that stress, specifically in

the form of racism, plays a role in the physical health of Black

Americans. During the 1990s, two important studies sought to test

this notion. The first, by a team of researchers at Duke University

(McNeilly et al., 1995), tested whether racial confrontations

between Black and White women contributed to higher rates of

hypertension among the Black women. Making use of 30 Black

female volunteers, the researchers had them engage in two debateswith a White person. The first debate centered on a controversial

racial topic, whereas the second debate centered on a noncontro-

versial topic unrelated to race. The study found that direct, inter-

active confrontation with racist provocation can elicit immediate

and significant increases in BP [blood pressure], HR [heart rate],

and emotional responses of anger, resentment, cynicism, and anxi-

ety (McNeilly et al., p. 335).

Around the same time, a more expansive study was conducted

that also looked at the impact of chronic stress and racism. Kreiger

and Sidney (1996) conducted a study to assess the relationship

between self-reported experiences of racial discrimination and




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blood pressure and the contribution of racial discrimination to

explaining Black-White disparities in elevated blood pressure

(p. 1370). The study, which was conducted over several years, andhad more than 4,000 Black and White participants, useda question-

naire to gather information on the participants experience with

racial discrimination and unfair treatment. In addition, the research-

ers noted the blood pressure of the participants. Besides the finding

that 80% of the Black participants reported experiencing racial dis-

crimination, like the Duke study, the researchers also found that

racial discrimination shapes patterns of blood pressure among the

US Black population and Black-White differences in blood pres-

sure (p. 1375). Since these two breakthrough studies, other

researchers have also investigated this link (e.g., Black Issues in

Higher Education, 2001).

Steffen, McNeilly, Anderson, and Sherwood (2003) also exam-

ined the effects of perceived racism on blood pressure among

Blacks. In their study, 69 African Americans were recruited to par-

ticipate in the study. Sherwood and his colleagues surveyed the par-ticipants regarding their experience with racism. Given the results

of past research, it was not surprising that 94% of the participants

indicated they had experienced racism in their lifetime. To gauge

the impact of this racism, the researchers asked the participants

questions that measured the impact of the inhibition of anger and

the outward expression of anger on blood pressure. The study

showed that, during the day, perceived racism was related to blood

pressure. In addition, the researchers noted that perceived racismwas positively correlated with anger inhibition . . . but was not

related to outwardly expressed anger (Steffen et al., p. 748). Fur-

thermore, the authors found that anger inhibition did not affect the

blood pressure of Black Americans while they were awake; how-

ever, there was an impact while the participants slept. This finding

suggests that, although perceived racism affects blood pressure

during the day, anger inhibition in response to racist provocationtakes its toll when Blacks sleep. Thus, according to the authors, a

partial explanation as to why Blacks have a higher incidence of

hypertension and hypertension-related diseases is because they




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internalize their anger from racist provocations (Steffen et al.,

2003).

While these medical studies show some promise for linking highblood pressure in Blacks to racism, other factors such as environ-

ment, diet, genetic factors, and income are also potential contribu-

tors to elevated blood pressure levels in Blacks. Nevertheless, these

studies show that stress, in the form of racism, is also a contributor.

We now turn our attention to studies that have examined the impact

of stress on Blacks from a criminological vantage point.

CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

SCHOLARSHIP ON RACE AND STRESS

The criminological literature on the impact of stress on crime is

sparse. An early pioneering macro-level work in the area is by

Linsky and Straus (1986). Linsky and Straus tested the theory that

stressful events which vitally affect individuals are component

processes of the social system itself. They are structures and vary

across such systems and conform to patterns of relationship that

may not be predictable from knowledge about individuals (p. 11).

Using social stress theory as their foundation, theycreated the State

Stress Index to determine the link between stress in social systems,

crime, disease, andmaladaptivebehaviors. Specifically, their research

tested the hypothesis that the higher the level of social stress, the

higher the level of health problems and crime (p. 12). The study

found that there was a relationship between crime rates and statestress levels (see pp. 65-88). When the authors examined the state

stress levels and disease, they found a correlation with only 3 (per-

forated ulcers, asthma, and respiratory disease) of the 11 diseases

they examined (p. 118). On the other hand, they found a correlation

between their state-level stress index and all of their indicators of

maladaptive behaviors such as accidents, alcoholism, heavy smok-

ing, and suicide (p. 119). Overall, there was considerable support

for authors hypothesis.

With the publication of Agnews (1992) revised version of strain

theory, criminal justice scholars began to consider the role that

exposure to strain (or stressful situations) could play in the etiology




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of criminal behavior. Agnew believed that the removal or loss of

positivestimuli in an environment can contribute to criminal activi-

ties. As examples of the removal or loss of positive stimuli, Agnewmentioned the death of familymemberor a close friend, the separa-

tion ofparents, and moving to a new area. The presentationof nega-

tive stimuli would include exposure to events such as child abuse

and neglect, negative relations with peers, adverse or negative

school experiences, and a variety of other stressful life events

(Agnew, 1992). There has been considerable support for Agnews

theory (e.g., see Agnew & White, 1992; Aseltine, Gore, & Gordon,

2000; Paternoster & Mazerolle, 1994). In recent years, the litera-

ture has becomemore diverse, investigating and finding support for

the applicability of the theory to females (Broidy & Agnew, 1997;

Elite, 2002; Katz, 2000; Leeper Piquero & Sealock, 2004), racial

minorities (Jang & Johnson, 2003; McClusky, 2002; Simons,

Chen, & Stewart, 2003), and international populations (Bao, Haas, &

Pi, 2004).

Returning to the research concerning Agnews theory as itrelates to race, Jang and Johnson (2003) sought to determine

whether strain theory was applicable to a national sample of 2,107

African Americans. While they did find support for the theory, they

also found that religiosity can serve as a buffer against the negative

effects of emotions (Jang & Johnson, 2003). Simons et al. (2003;

using longitudinal data from the Family and Community Health

Study; see www.cfr.uga.edu.html.fachs.html) found an association

between discrimination and delinquency. Their research showedthat, among boys, discrimination contributes to feelings of anger

and depression that manifests itself in aggression. While these

results held true for girls as well, the effect of discrimination was

less pronounced (and see Elite & Turner, 2003).

Each of the previously reviewed areas of scholarship provides

insights into the complex nature of race and stress. The scholarship

showed that the impact of stress can be far reaching and, at times,affect the mental, physical, and sociological state of Black

Americans.




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THE CURRENT STUDY

Given the varied literature that looks at race and stress, wedecided to conduct a study that combined several aspects of the lit-

erature reviewed. On the whole, the current study builds on the pio-

neering work on social stress theory by Linsky and Strauss (1986).

However, the current study differs from their work in that it sought

to determine whether being Black in America exacts a social cost

through the exposure to several social stressors that can severely

affect the quality of life among Black Americans. As such, we

investigated the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: The higher the level of select state-level social stressors

related to Blacks, the lower the quality of life among Black

Americans.

To examine this hypothesis, we constructed a Living While Black

index and a quality of life index. These indexes are discussed fur-

ther in the Method section.

METHOD

The basic method of the current study was comparative state

analysis, using the 50 American states as units of analysis (on this

method, see Blomquist, 1999; Jacob & Vines, 1971).

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

The dependent variable is a summed index comprising four vari-

ables, each of which reflects one aspect of quality of life:

Chronic drinking problems. The Centers for Disease Control

(CDC) have compiled data on the extent to which drinking prob-

lems exist for different groups of Americans across the 50 states(seehttp://cdc.gov). The specific data recorded state by state are the

percentageof African Americans having 5 ormoredrinks per day.




12/21

Mental health problems. The Kaiser Family Foundation pub-

lished State Health Facts Online. One indicator used to assess

health is a measure of the proportion of states populations withpoor mental health. This was assessedby asking a sample of peo-

ple the following question: For how many days during the past 30

days was your mental health not good? There is a breakdown by

different population subsets, including African Americans, which

serves as our measure.

Suicide rate. The CDC, through its National Vital Statistics Sys-

tem of the National Center for Health Statistics recorded suicide

rate by state among African Americans in 1998 to 1999 (suicides

per 100,000 population).

Years of life lost before age 75. CDCs National Vital Statistics

System of the National Center for Health Statistics has developed

an index of years of life lost before age 75. This is an index that can

be used to determine what factors lead to a shorter life span than

would be expected. Data on African Americans from 1996 to 1998

(age adjusted per 100,000 population) per state is the variable usedhere. Each of the preceding four variables was dichotomized, with

a score of 1 indicating that a state ranks at or higher than the

national mean; 0 indicates less than the national mean. A maximum

score of 4 suggests poor quality of life for African Americans in a

state; a score of 0, of course, would testify to a much more positive

quality of life.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

A series of potential stressors associated with living while Black

were selected to explore the effect of these on quality of life. We

began with six variables that appear to be valid indicators of stress-

ful events.

Number of prisoners. Data on numbers of African American

prisoners per state were gathered for 1997 (U.S. Department of Jus-

tice, 1998, p. 77). Then, we divided this number by the number of

African Americans in each state, to provide a comparable figure

across the states.




13/21

Percentage of nonelderly who are uninsured. The Kaiser Foun-

dation (n.d.) reported on the percentage of nonelderly African

Americans in each state without medical insurance. We used datafrom 2001. This serves as a variable of the stressful situation of

being uninsured.

Sales and receipts of African American owned firms (in millions

of dollars). The U. S. Department of Commerce, in Bureau of Cen-

sus data from 1992, reported the dollar value of African American-

owned firms per state. We divided this amount by the African

American population to provide a comparable baseline from state

to state. This is one index of economic vitality in the African

American community.

Poverty levels. The Bureau of Census (2004) reported the num-

ber of African Americans per state who live below the poverty line

for 2000. We divided this by the number of African Americans in

each state to get a percentage figure to enhance comparability.

Infant mortality rate. The 2001 Statistical Abstract of the United

States (U.S. Census Bureau) was the primary data source for thismetric. This U.S. Census Bureau publication provides state-level

data on the infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births for African

Americans in 1998.

Homicide deaths: 1996-1998. Data were gathered on homicides

per 100,000 population for 1996-1998 by the CDC (1998).

We conducted factor analysis on these six variables, reasoning

that there might be underlying dimensions that would simplify data

analysis. Table 1 shows the results of factor analysis. We extractedprincipal components and then carried out varimax rotation.

On rotation, two factors emerged. The first appears to capture a

combination of death and economic problems (business dollars

earned divided by population was reverse coded, so that a higher

score equated to poorer business climate for African Americans).

The four variables loading on this factor include poverty rate, poor

business earnings (the economic dimension), and greater death(infant mortality and homicide rates). The second factor comprised

two variables: imprisonment rate and lack of access to health insur-

ance. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy is

.589, somewhat low, but not a bad solution. Bartletts test of sphe-




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ricity is significant at .099. Subsequent data analysis revealed that

the second factor had no relationship to the dependent variable;

hence, only Factor I was used in analysis to come.Control variables were added to data analysis to ensure that find-

ings are not spurious:

1. Age: Prior studies have suggested that older African Americans

appear to handle stressful situations with less adverse conse-

quences than White older Americans (e.g., Peterson & Somit,

1994, pp. 112-114). Data from the 2000 Census (U.S. Census

Bureau, 2004) assessmedianage of African Americans bystate.2. Education level: Education is a key resource; studies have indi-

cated that those with better education have better life chances and

more resources to deal with problems of life.

3. Policy liberalism: Erikson, Wright, and McIver (1994) created a

measure of policy liberalism for the American states. This index

captures the extent to which state policy choices represent liberal

decisions, including in the area of civil rights. A more liberal pol-

icy environment would appear to be more conducive to addressingsome of the issues central to the stresses of living while Black.

4. Religion: Literature indicates that religion can buffer people

from the ill effects of life stress (e.g., Linsky & Strauss, 1986).

Hence, we gathered data on the number of African Methodist


TABLE 1

Factor Analysis of Stressful Events (Varimax Rotation)

Variable Factor I Factor II

African American poverty rate .659a

.253

African American prisoners rate .121 .808a

African American access to medical care .197 .694a

African American infant mortality rate .514a

.231

Homicide rate .791a

.206

African American business dollars per Black population

(lowest 50%) .604a

.447b

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy = .589

Bartletts test of sphericity = .099

a. These factor coefficients were .5 or more.b. This factor coefficient was from .4 to .5.



15/21

Episcopal (AME) churches in each state as well as AME. Zion

churches per state (data were retrieved from http://netministries

.org). We added the two together for eachstate, divided the total bythe population of African Americans in the state, and used the

resulting number as an index of social buffering against the invidi-

ous effects of stressful life events.

FINDINGS

Multivariate analysis was carried out to determine if the index ofstressors of everyday lifeamong African Americans has a strong tie

to negative quality of life. Table 2 provides results from multiple

regression analysis.

Model 1 shows the simple relationship between the factor score

for stressful life events and the quality of life index. Clearly, stress-

ors have a profound effect, as one would predict. The beta is .469,

significant at the .01 level.

When a set of independent variables is added in Model 2 (basedon theory and preliminary correlational analysis), we saw the fol-

lowing: (a) higher median age of African Americans reduces nega-

tive quality of life; (b) stressors (Factor I) are linked to an increas-

ingly negative quality of life. The multiple R is .565, with adjusted

explained variation at .229. Policy liberalism and education level

wash out as predictors.

Theory and findings indicate that buffers can reduce the adverseeffects of stress. In this research, we used religiosity as a metric of

social buffering. Model 3 includes a buffering variablereligios-

ity. As one can see, this buffer is associated with a less adverse neg-

ativequality of life; however, the factor score representing stressors

still has a major effect on the dependent variable.

DISCUSSION

This article began by reviewing the public health, psychology,

and the criminology and criminal justice literature that looked at

the role stress plays in the lives of Black Americans. After review-




16/21

ing that literature, we drew on the social stress perspective of

Linsky and Strauss (1986) and investigated the hypothesis that the

higher the level of state-level social stressors, the lower the quality

of life among Black Americans. To test this supposition, we com-

bined several measures to create a Living While Black index. To

measure whether these state-level indicators affected Black Ameri-

cans, we created a quality of life index, which sought to capture if

the living while Black measures were affecting Black Americans in

a negative way. Using these two indexes, we found that economic

(poor earnings for African Americanowned businesses and pov-erty rate) and death stressors (infant mortality and death rates) were

correlated with a negativequality of lifeamong Black Americans.

The significant relationship between the economic stressors

(earnings of Black businesses and poverty rate) and our quality-of-

life indexwhile controlling for other variablescould be inter-

preted a couple of ways. On one hand, it seems only natural that if

such businesses were not doing well, the quality of life among the

owners will be diminished. As a consequence, it would not beunusual for such a situation to result in chronic drinking problems,

mental health issues, some years taken off ones life due to stress,

and, in the worst case scenario, some people might contemplate


TABLE 2

Listwise Multiple Regression:

Predicting Negative Quality of Life (N= 35)Independent Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Policy liberalism .148 .220

African American median age .266* .259*

African American education level .112 .112

Economic and death stressors (Factor I) .469*** .398** .437***

AME + AMZE by African American

population .214*

Multiple R .469 .565 .598Adjusted multiple R

2.197 .229 .247

SE .7940 .7781 .7689

Significance .002 .009 .010

NOTE:AME= AfricanMethodist Episcopal; AMZE = AfricanMethodist EpiscopalZion .*p < .10. **p < .05. ***p < .01



17/21

taking their lives or actually commit suicide. On the other hand,

could it be that race has something to do with the sales and receipts

of Black businesses? Some would argue that is more difficult forBlacks to sustain their businesses.Specifically, it is often suggested

that itmight alsobemoredifficult for Blacks tosecure the appropri-

ate funds (i.e., loans) to run their businesses effectively. Although

the nature of our data cannot provide clear answers to these ques-

tions, we suspect more research needs to be done in this area.

The finding that the level of poverty is significantly correlated

with infant mortality rates and homicide rates is also not new.

Those in poverty have traditionally had less access to prenatal care

that is likely an important factor related to infant mortality rates.

These conditions are typically more prevalent in poor minority

communities. Furthermore, this finding also clearly supports the

overwhelming body of research that shows that poverty and eco-

nomic disadvantage are related to serious crimes. Finally, any com-

munity with such acute levels of poverty, and the related high rates

of infant mortality and homicides, will have quality of life issues.For example, chronic drinking is likely an escape for those who

have lost a child or are daily exposed to homicides (often referred to

as covictimization). Similarly, for some, mental health problems

likely develop from such exposure. And it is likely that, for those

who do not commit suicide, the cumulative effect of exposure to

these death stressors is years taken off ones life.

The fact that the number of prisoners and the percentage of

nonelderly who were uninsured did not correlate with our quality-of-life index might tell us a few things. First, it could be that, even

with their overrepresentation in state prison populations, Black

Americans do not have a sense that it is inevitable that they will be

incarcerated in their lifetime. Therefore, their quality of life is not

significantly affected by this situation. The finding related to the

nonelderly who are noninsured suggests that Black Americans

might be used to not having health insurance; therefore, it does notaffect their quality of life in a significant way.

It is also worth noting that social buffers may reduce somewhat

the effects of these life stressors. Using an admittedly imperfect

measure, the number of churches per state with largely African




18/21

American membership, we did find buffering associated with

lower negative quality of life.

CONCLUSION

Although our state-level analysis showed support for the social

stress perspective, and more specifically, the notion that living

while Black or being a Black American does significantly affect

ones quality of life, there were several limitations of our research.

We faced the frustration of missing values. Some states have so few

African Americans that data are so unreliable that databases code

values as missing (e.g., the Dakotas or Idaho).

Future research might want to add state-level arrest data to Liv-

ing While Black index. The likelihood of being arrested might

affect more the quality of life among Black Americans than being

incarcerated because Black Americans might see this as more of a

potential occurrence than being incarcerated. In terms of depend-ent variables, we would like to add stress-related illnesses, such as

hypertension. We were unable to identify sources providing such

data, after extensive searches of databases and the use of the Penn-

sylvania State Data Center.

Froma policystandpoint, based on state-level data such as these,

states might want to review their policies related to several areas.

For instance, states might want to review if appropriate levels of

monies are made available to burgeoning Black businesses.Relatedly, they might want to check to see if there has been an

excessive amount of claims regarding discriminatory loan prac-

tices. States might also want to insure that community-level clinics

have the resources required to provide adequate prenatal care that

can likely help reduce the infant mortality rate in the Black commu-

nity. States also need to invest in funds that can trickle down to

community-level programs aimed at keeping at-risk youth out of

criminal activities. Such programs have the potential to reduce the

likelihood that Blacks will be involved in serious crime. Even with

these approaches, it must be expected that, because of the social

stressors discussed, Blacks will engage in chronic drinking and




19/21

develop mental health problems. As such, public health officials

need to insure that there are adequate levels of alcoholismand men-

tal counseling services. Only through such a comprehensive effortcan the effect of living while Black be diminished. Indeed, we

believe that this research makes clear that adverse effects of living

while Black pose a substantial public health issue. As such, efforts

to ameliorate the negative consequences may prove to be cost-

effective. Thus, public health strategies, such as the interventions

mentioned above,may wellpay for themselvesover the long run.

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Shaun L. Gabbidon is associate professor of criminal justice in the School of Public

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StevenA. Peterson is director of theSchool of PublicAffairs andProfessor of Politics

andPublicAffairs at Pennsylvania StateUniversity(Harrisburg). His research inter-ests include Americanpolitics,publicopinion,biologyandpolitics,andpublic policy

(AIDS policy andeducationpolicy). He hasauthored or coauthored nearly 20 books

andmorethan 100journal articles,book chapters,books,and so forth.Hehasserved

aspresident of theNew YorkStatePoliticalScience Associationandthe Northeastern

Political Science Association.


Documents

Living While Black- Stress on Black Life