From "Crib to Coffin": Navigating Coping From Racism-Related Stress Throughout the Lifespan of Black Americans

• Published in: American journal of orthopsychiatry Vol. 90; no. 2; pp. 267 - 282
• Main Authors: Jones, Shawn C. T., Anderson, Riana Elyse, Gaskin-Wasson, Ashly Louise, Sawyer, Broderick A., Applewhite, Kimberly, Metzger, Isha W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Educational Publishing Foundation 2020; American Psychological Association
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; Aged; Black People; Child; Coping; Coping Behavior; Emotions; Human; Human Development; Humans; Life events; Life Span; Mental Health; Racism; Racism - psychology; Stress; Stress, Psychological - ethnology; United States - ethnology; Well Being; United States; Black Americans; racism-related stress; racial coping; life-course perspective
• ISSN: 0002-9432; 1939-0025
• DOI: 10.1037/ort0000430

Despite the proclamation of a "postracial" society, racism in the United States remains "alive and sick" (S. P. Harrell, 2000), negatively impacting the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of Black Americans. Moreover, the complex impact of racism throughout the life span is inadequately understood. Coping with the insidiousness of racism in its myriad forms requires recognizing how it expresses across development. In this developmental overview, we apply a life-course perspective (Gee, Walsemann, & Brondolo, 2012) to investigate racism-related stress and coping over time. Within each period of development, we first explore how racism-related stress may present for Black Americans and then document what coping from this stress looks like, highlighting extant strategies and interventions where they exist. This work concludes with a set of definitional, methodological, and clinical future directions and recommendations for improving the field's ability to mitigate the deleterious impact of racism-related stress.
Public Policy Relevance Statement
Racism is a pernicious stressor with the potential to disrupt the psychological health and well-being of Black Americans. Furthermore, racism-related stress operates in different ways, with different implications, at different times in development (childhood, adolescence, adulthood). To promote resilience in the face of and resistance to racism, it is critical to understand its various presentations, as well as culturally relevant ways to cope with and heal from racism-related stressors.