Racial discrimination, John Henryism coping, and behavioral health conditions among predominantly poor, urban African Americans: Implications for community‐level opioid problems and mental health services

Abstract

The current study examined the relationship between John Henryism Active Coping (JHAC), experiences of racial discrimination, and behavioral health outcomes in a community sample of 319 Black adults. Assessments included primary health care screenings as well as self-reported survey questions to assess JHAC, experiences of discrimination, and self-reported behavioral health. Logistic regressions model adjusted for control variables, found a significant relationship between JHAC and having an opioid problem (OR = 0.95, p = 0.003) as well as needing mental health services (OR = 0.95, p < 0.001) such that higher levels of coping were associated with lower odds of reporting an opioid problem and with needing mental health services. Notably, racial discrimination was not significantly independently associated with behavioral health. Implications for interventions and community programming are discussed.

Impostor Phenomenon and Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Roles of John Henryism and School Racial Composition Among Black College Students

“…Studies utilizing total scores on the JHAC scale have reported Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .61 to .96 (Fernander et al, 2003; Jones et al, 2019; Volpe et al, 2020), which is in line with the current study (sample α = .76). The JHAC has been found to positively correlate with other active coping strategies and be discriminable from Type A behavioral patterns, anger and hostility, and emotion-focused and behavioral disengagement coping strategies (see Fernander et al, 2003).…”

“…Given the nonsignificance of John Henrysim in the context of self-esteem and maladaptive perfectionism, it is possible that this coping strategy is most relevant in the context of interpersonal stressors (e.g., racial discrimination) as opposed to internal stressors such as IP. Consistent with this assertion, our review of the scholarly literature found that the majority of John Henryism research work has examined this culturally relevant coping strategy in the context of interpersonal racerelated stressors, such as racial discrimination (Bennett et al, 2004;Jones et al, 2019;Volpe et al, 2020). Thus, while high effort coping may shape behavioral health outcomes in the face of race-related stressors, it may not influence perfectionistic tendencies or evaluations of one's own worth.…”

“…Although not exclusive to Black individuals, John Henryism has been found to be more prevalent among Black individuals relative to their White counterparts (Bennett et al, 2004; Neighbors et al, 2007). Within the Black community, John Henrysim may be used more frequently as a means to negotiate race-related stressors and negative messages that devalue what it means to be Black in broader society (Jones et al, 2019; Matthews et al, 2013). While scholars have documented the noxious effects of John Henryism on physical health (e.g., Bronder et al, 2014; Volpe et al, 2020), the link between John Henryism and psychological functioning remains an important and underexplored area of examination for the mental health of Black emerging adults.…”

The neurobiology of social stress resulting from Racism: Implications for pain disparities among racialized minorities

“…Racism has the ability to affect health via physical, psychological, social, functional, and spiritual domains. Specifically, racism-related stress has been related to hypertension ( Williams and Neighbors, 2001 , Anderson, 1989 ), cardiovascular issues ( Paradies et al, 2015 Sep 23 ), depression ( Willis et al, 2021 Aug 1 ), psychological distress ( Jackson et al, 1996 , Kelly et al, 2020 Apr ), and health behaviors such as eating disorders ( Glass et al, 2020 Nov ), substance abuse ( Jones et al, 2019 Jun , Desalu et al, 2019 Jun , Frazer et al, 2018 Feb ) and violence ( Sutton et al, 2020 Feb , Johnson et al, 2021 ). Additionally, racism-related stress has effects on social (ability to trust and interact with others) ( Hicken et al, 2013 Jun 1 , Odoms-Young, 2018 ), functional (academic and financial achievement) ( Grace and Nelson, 2019 Oct 2 , Butler-Barnes et al, 2018 Oct ) and spiritual (faith in higher powers) well-being ( Drolet and Lucas, 2020 Dec , Bailey et al, 2020 ).…”

Race/Ethnic Variations in Predictors of Health Consciousness Within the Cancer Prevention Context

“…36,37 These high effort/active coping strategies may play an important role in influencing how stressful psychosocial experiences impact health outcomes, at times exacerbating negative health outcomes and at other times operating as a health protector. [36][37][38][39][40] Our findings suggest that among African Americans, HC is more closely associated with social support. These findings may indicate that while programs that target education as a means of increasing HC may have some efficacy among African Americans, utilizing approaches that incorporate or foster social support may produce a more meaningful impact on levels of HC among this subpopulation.…”