Do Blacks Face More Stress Than Whites?

This article originally appeared in Jet Magazine 

Stress is defined as a body condition that occurs in response to actual or anticipated difficulties in life. Noting the ordinary, day-to-day pressures Blacks face in America in addition to the racial obstacles Blacks constantly battle in this country. Do Blacks face more stress than Whites? Many experts on the subject say yes. Dr. Harold W. Jordan, chairman of the psychiatry department at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN, says that Blacks have experienced more stress than Whites since slavery. He says that slavery is still evident in this country because of the shackles of racism, which is the primary source of stress for Blacks. "Blacks started out in this country as slaves and in many situations have not been freed from slavery," according to Dr. Jordan. "We have Black churches being burned down all over the country. We've got Blacks living in ghettos and in poverty. We've got Black young men dying on the streets. We've got Black young men disproportionately represented in jail. We're still in slavery," Dr. Jordan explains. He notes these situations add stress to Blacks' lives. "The stress is even worse today because there are some Whites who think that we have it made, and they become insensitive to our needs because they assume we've `mace so much progress in the last 30 years,'" Dr. Jordan reveals. He also notes White America's view of Blacks as "lazy or criminals" is shallow because they don't take into consideration that Blacks have more pressures than Whites. Physical stress affects the body while mental stress affects the mind. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that mental stress leads to a greater chance of having a cardiac event, such as a heart attack, progressive chest pain, an operation or even death. Many Blacks fall victim to such mental stress. Dr. Jordan cites other consequences of mental stress such as depression and schizophrenia, in addition to its contribution to medical illnesses such as heart disease and hypertension, which are both higher among Blacks than Whites, he says. Dr. Robert Davis, president of the Association of Black Sociologists, says that Blacks face more stress than Whites because Blacks must put forth extra effort in the work force in order to prove themselves just as capable as their White colleagues. "We have to work twice as hard to get recognition so that there are no negatives on the job," says Dr. Davis. "You have to put out twice as much and be twice as good just to negotiate the system which brings about a certain amount of stress." Stress is heightened for Blacks as they move into the corporate world, adds Dr. Davis, who is also director of institutional assessment and a professor of sociology at North Carolina A & T State University. "As we move into corporate America, very often we do not have a critical mass of people of color to use as a support network. Either you're dealing with this on the margins or integrating into the mainstream, and very often that'll have its baggage in terms of stress," Dr. Davis believes. The Princeton Survey Research Associates in New Jersey recently conducted a survey which revealed that 65 percent of the adults polled said they felt stress at least one day a week compared with 55 percent in 1983. While Americans are at their wits' end in stress, Dr. William D. Richie, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and director of Inpatient Psychiatry at Howard University Hospital, feels that Blacks and Whites face equal stress, but Blacks should try to respond to stress in a more productive manner. "We're all going to have stress. The bottom line is how you handle it," says Dr. Richie, who notes that drug and alcohol abuse and other compulsive behaviors are often negative, "learned ways" some Blacks use to handle stress. He suggests seeking counseling for those who have difficulty coping. "It's not a genetic thing. African Americans face different stressors," adds Dr. Richie, who says that Blacks not only experience racism from other races, but they also encounter racism from one another due to the various complexions of skin color. Dr. Yvonnecris Smith Veal, president of the National Medical Association and medical director of the United States Postal Service, New York Metro Area, believes Blacks have more stress than Whites because of the economy. "We have jobs. We have access to dollars, but not everyone has a satisfactory wage. If socioeconomically disadvantaged, you can anticipate more stress because there are more issues to deal with," says Dr. Veal. She also reveals that mental stress impacts our total life and that it can aggravate any disease state that's in existence. "Stress is really an emotional state that may lead to vital and mental signs of the symptom that affects an individual's ability to perform. This all leads down the pathway to complicate other disease states," maintains Dr. Veal. Dr. Thomas Parham, president of the Association of Black Psychologists, believes that Blacks face more stress than Whites because Blacks are oppressed by Whites. "White people are typically the ones who are in control. It is always the oppressed person who will experience more stress than the oppressor," says Dr. Parham, who is assistant vice chancellor for counseling and health services at the University of California at Irvine. He says that Blacks must interact with their environment in ways fundamentally different than Whites, which causes stress. "You have to engage in behaviors that require you to be more cautious when walking down the street at night or watching the color of clothes you wear. Being followed at the mall because you're Black or being corrected more by the teacher because you're Black increases stress," says Dr. Parham.