Open AccessFrom “crib to coffin”: Navigating coping from racism-related stress throughout the lifespan of Black Americans.
Author(s) -
Shawn C. T. Jones,
Riana Elyse Anderson,
Ashly L. Gaskin-Wasson,
Broderick Sawyer,
Kimberly Applewhite,
Isha W. Metzger
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
american journal of orthopsychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.959
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1939-0025
pISSN - 0002-9432
DOI - 10.1037/ort0000430
Subject(s) - racism , psycinfo , coping (psychology) , psychology , psychological intervention , clinical psychology , gender studies , sociology , medline , political science , psychiatry , law
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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).