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This investigation focuses on the relationship between racial discrimination and health. Many studies have shown a link between race and differential health outcomes, but few have actually measured racial discrimination. Such studies leave unanswered the question of exactly how the experience of racial discrimination might affect health. Racial discrimination is argued to act in the same fashion as other chronic stressors by increasing blood pressure. However, racial discrimination may also give rise to the sense of thwarted aspirations, itself a stressor, and make the active coping style of "John Henryism" more likely. In these data, we measure perceived racial discrimination for a sample of African Americans and find that experiencing racially-based discriminatory treatment does not impact health. There is no relationship between doctor-diagnosed hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and being the victim of racially biased treatment. We discuss possible reasons for this, and argue that greater conceptualization about the postulated link between discrimination and health is necessary, as well as explicitly designed studies for the purpose of examining this postulated relationship.

A three-wave panel study of auto plant closings focused on the mental health effects of unemployment on blue-collar workers. This paper explores how the impact of long-term unemployment varies across race and gender. We also examine whether other demographic factors can themselves modify the impacts of race and gender. Dependent variables include two measures of distress and two drinking measures. Results showed that the effect of long-term unemployment on distress and drinking was more severe among less educated workers, and responses of blacks were especially sensitive to level of education. In addition, men showed a greater association of long-term unemployment with depression (and to some extent anxiety) than did women. Marriage affected the responses of men but not of women, and of whites but not of blacks. Explanatory variables--the worker's experiences of financial hardship, other negative life events, and lack of a confidant--largely accounted for male-female differences. We conclude by discussing theoretical implications of these effects and address the limitations of the traditional term "vulnerability" in describing them.

Despite the many important benefits of leisure-time physical exercise on health, many Americans do not engage in exercise. This is more the case for the African-American population. This study assesses the impact of efficacy cognitions on leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in an African-American sample. Our findings show that LTPA is predicted by the sense of efficacy in this African-American sample. Further analyses address significant factors in the prediction of the sense of efficacy. We find that the general sense of mastery predicts efficacy in this African-American sample. This may be especially significant for the African-American population. Also, analysis reveals surprising findings concerning characteristics predictive of efficacy cognitions. The highly educated are least likely to believe in the efficacy of preventive health behavior.

This paper considers the role of social mobility to hypertension among blacks. Using a nationally representative sample of the adult black population, this research finds no effects of intergenerational socioeconomic mobility. Minimal effects are found for geographic mobility; geographic moves bears a small positive relationship to hypertension. The implications for a theory of mobility effects on black health are discussed.