Abstract
A conceptual model of the stress process has been useful in examining relationships among a variety of stressors, health status, and protective factors that modify the health-stress relationship. The model can contribute to an understanding of variations in health among people living in urban environments experiencing high degrees of stress. This study examines social contextual stressors in the neighborhood, health outcomes, and perceived control at multiple levels beyond the individual as a protective factor, among a random sample (N = 679) of predominantly low-income African American women who reside on Detroit's east side. Findings suggest that although stress has a consistently negative impact on health, perceived control may buffer against the deleterious effects of stress. The buffering role of perceived control, however, depends on age, the type of stressor examined, and the context or level at which perceived control is assessed (e.g., organizational, neighborhood, beyond the neighborhood). For young women, perceived control was found to be health protective. Among older women, perceived control in the face of stressors was inversely related to health. These findings suggest the need for health and social service programs and policy change strategies to both increase the actual influence and control of women living in low-income urban communities and to reduce the specific social contextual stressors they experience.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 122-141 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Journal of Urban Health |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2005 |
Funding
We gratefully thank ESVHWP for the development and administration of the community survey on which this article is based. The ESVHWP was established in 1995 as part of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ESVHWP has involved a collaboration among the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion, Butzel Family Center, Friends of Parkside, Henry Ford Health System, Kettering/Butzel Health Initiative, Warren/Conner Development Coalition, the East Side Parish Nurse Network, and community residents on Detroit’s east side. This research was supported in part by funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; grant T32-MH16806, from the National Institute of Mental Health; and the Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan. Aspects of this research were presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Public Health Association, November, 2000, Boston, MA. The Institutional Review Board for the Health Sciences at the University of Michigan approved this research, File #918. We thank Meaghan Mary Cooper and Alfredo Garza for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.
Keywords
- African American women
- Community empowerment
- Perceived control
- Stress
- Urban health
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Urban Studies
