TY - JOUR
T1 - Is Resilience Only Skin Deep?
T2 - Rural African Americans' Socioeconomic Status-Related Risk and Competence in Preadolescence and Psychological Adjustment and Allostatic Load at Age 19
AU - Brody, Gene H.
AU - Yu, Tianyi
AU - Chen, Edith
AU - Miller, Gregory E.
AU - Kogan, Steven M.
AU - Beach, Steven R.H.
PY - 2013/7
Y1 - 2013/7
N2 - Many African American youth may develop high levels of allostatic load, a measure of physiological wear and tear on the body, by developing psychosocial competence under conditions of high risk related to socioeconomic status (SES). The current study was designed to test this hypothesis, which is based on John Henryism theory. In a representative sample of 489 African American youth living in the rural South, cumulative SES-related risks and teacher-reported competence were assessed at ages 11 to 13; depressive symptoms, externalizing behavior, and allostatic load were assessed at age 19. The data revealed that rural African American preadolescents who evinced high psychosocial competence under conditions of high cumulative SES-related risk displayed low levels of adjustment problems along with high allostatic load at age 19. These results suggest that, for many rural African Americans, resilience may indeed be only "skin deep."
AB - Many African American youth may develop high levels of allostatic load, a measure of physiological wear and tear on the body, by developing psychosocial competence under conditions of high risk related to socioeconomic status (SES). The current study was designed to test this hypothesis, which is based on John Henryism theory. In a representative sample of 489 African American youth living in the rural South, cumulative SES-related risks and teacher-reported competence were assessed at ages 11 to 13; depressive symptoms, externalizing behavior, and allostatic load were assessed at age 19. The data revealed that rural African American preadolescents who evinced high psychosocial competence under conditions of high cumulative SES-related risk displayed low levels of adjustment problems along with high allostatic load at age 19. These results suggest that, for many rural African Americans, resilience may indeed be only "skin deep."
KW - adolescent development
KW - environmental effects
KW - health
KW - neuroendocrinology
KW - socioeconomic status
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U2 - 10.1177/0956797612471954
DO - 10.1177/0956797612471954
M3 - Article
C2 - 23722980
AN - SCOPUS:84880081246
VL - 24
SP - 1285
EP - 1293
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
SN - 0956-7976
IS - 7
ER -