“We're not looking for a handout, just a hand sometimes” - Stress Coping in African American Men's Health

Stress has been posited as a key determinant of health that helps to explain African American men’s high rates of chronic disease and premature mortality, particularly in middle age. The Environmental Affordances Framework posits that the poor health of African American men is due to how racialized and gendered social, cultural and environmental factors create myriad stressors and strains in these men’s lives, but limited options to cope with stress.  In this presentation, we will describe the findings from a study designed to examine how stress affects the health of middle-aged African American men. We used a thematic analysis of four exploratory focus groups with African American men ages 40-59 (n=35) to identify several key sources of stress including family responsibilities, low socioeconomic status, lack of social support, racism, historical events (e.g., slavery and segregation) and discrimination within the African American community. Some men reported using health-promoting strategies to cope with stress (i.e., physical activity and prayer) while others reported coping with stress via health-harming strategies (i.e., drinking, smoking).  While the majority of men mentioned dealing with stress alone, a significant number of men mentioned wanting to participate in forums with other African American peers to talk and receive support for the stressors that they experience. This research highlights the mechanisms through which stress affects the health of middle-aged African American men, and suggests important implications for how to improve African American men’s health, including the need to create healthy, gender-appropriate opportunities for men to constructively cope with stress.