Discrimination, perceived control, and psychological health among African Americans with hypertension

Emily A. Vargas*, Diana A. Chirinos, Ramaswami Mahalingam, Riley A. Marshall, Mandy Wong, Kiarri N. Kershaw

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

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 languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2841-2850
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Health Psychology
Volume26
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 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

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