Coping Strategies as Moderators of the Relation Between Individual Race-Related Stress and Mental Health Symptoms for African American Women

The purpose of this investigation was to examine coping strategies as moderators of the relationship between individual race-related stress and mental health symptoms among a sample of 128 African American women. Coping strategies refer to efforts used to resolve problems and those used to manage, endure, or alleviate distress. Culture-specific strategies were examined in the current study (i.e., efforts that are commonly used by members of a cultural group). Culture-specific efforts were hypothesized to influence the severity of psychological symptoms associated with individual race-related stress, such that frequent use of culture-specific efforts would lessen the strength of the relationship between race-related stress and psychological symptoms. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses revealed that high use of ritual-centered strategies to address race-related stress was related to severe anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity. No moderating effect of coping strategies was found for depression, obsessive-compulsion, and somatization symptoms. The findings suggest that African American women may inadvertently utilize coping efforts that serve to increase the severity of psychological symptoms related to individual race-related stress. Mental health professionals should explore underlying emotions related to coping efforts utilized to address race-related stress among African American women.