Hypertension in Older African Americans: Testing Psychosocial Mediators

<p>Past research has shown that low socioeconomic status (SES) and experiencing racial discrimination are both related to hypertension in African Americans. Further, low SES and racial discrimination have been found to affect hypertension indirectly through stress, low levels of psychosocial resources, and lifestyle risk factors in African American adults. Past studies have used the Reserve Capacity Model (RCM; Gallo & Matthews, 2003; 2005) to understand these relationships. The RCM asserts that stress can be mitigated by psychosocial resources (mastery, optimism, self-esteem) which lead to healthy lifestyle behaviors predictive of cardiac health. However, there are few studies that use the RCM to predict hypertension in African American adults. Additionally, the present investigation added discrimination along with low SES as an additional stressor that compounds the effects of poverty on health. We examined the mediational effects of RCM resources after low SES and discrimination experiences to predict health behavior (exercise) and hypertension in 1202 middle to older aged African Americans using structural equation modeling. Results showed that both low SES and perceived discrimination predicted a self-reported diagnosis of hypertension indirectly through levels of reserve capacity and exercise. These findings provide support for the Reserve Capacity Model as an explanatory framework for how social stressors affect health through modifiable psychosocial resources and health behaviors in middle to older aged African Americans.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2016

Author dc:creator

• Draper, Taylor L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Morton, Kelly R.
• Flynn, Patricia M.
• Martin, Leslie R.
• Morrell, Holly E. R.

• Clinical Psychology
• Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Hypertension; African-Americans; Race discrimination;
• Socioeconomic Status; Racial Discrimination; Lifestyle risk factors; Reserve Capacity Model

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/376

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1372