Abstract
Hypertensive individuals represent a “vulnerable” population regarding psychological health. While African Americans are disproportionally burdened with hypertension, pathways predicting their psychological health remain understudied. We examine if discrimination is associated with psychological health, through an indirect effect of perceived control within a sample of African American individuals with prevalent hypertension (n = 990). Discrimination was significantly associated with an increase psychological distress and a decrease in psychological well-being through a reduction in perceived control, supporting Minority Stress Theory. Cardiovascular disease risk factor management implications are discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2841-2850 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Health Psychology |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 14 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2021 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: EAV is funded by the T32 Research Training Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine.
Keywords
- African Americans
- discrimination
- hypertension
- perceived control
- psychological health
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Applied Psychology
