Chapter Descriptions [ Back to Previous Page ]

Summary of Chapters 2-12

Chapter 2:
A Model-Free Approach to the Study of Subjective Well-Being

As authors Murray and Peacock eloquently point out in Chapter 2, the large amount of information gathered in the National Survey of Black Americans allows for a more in-depth exploration usually not possible with typically small datasets on blacks. While they admit that "ransacking" large data sets is cumbersome, time consuming, and costly, Murray and Peacock present an efficient data analysis procedure using a sophisticated statistical technique, Automatic Interaction Detector, as a way of empirically searching data to identify an initial set of predictors to explain subjective well-being among African Americans. They show that stress is important in explaining subjective well-being and that African Americans 55 years and older are more satisfied with their lives. Family closeness and the number of helpers living in one's neighborhood are also found to be important predictors of subjective well-being. (pp. 14-26)

Chapter 3:
Stress and Residential Well-Being

In Chapter 3, Gayle Phillips examines the role that stress and housing quality play in explaining neighborhood satisfaction among African Americans. Her chapter answers the question of whether objective, physical residential characteristics, perceptions of neighborhood services, and the location of one's residence explain housing quality and neighborhood satisfaction. Phillips finds that the important correlates of neighborhood satisfaction differ for men and women. Women are more concerned than men about safety and crime as major neighborhood problems. Overall, neighborhood satisfaction increases because of the maintenance and improvement of residential conditions, which can be facilitated by participating in neighborhood groups. (pp. 27-44)

Chapter 4:
Problem Drinking, Chronic Disease and Life Events

Chapter 4 also focuses on quality of life and provides a transition from the positive side of African American mental health to the more negative -- how problem drinking exacerbates a host of physical and mental health problems. In the chapter titled, "Problem Drinking, Chronic Disease and Recent Life Events," Isidore Obot makes an important contribution to the implications of alcohol abuse among African Americans by presenting epidemiologic data on the breadth of health and social problems that negatively impact the life of the drinker, the immediate family, and society at large. Obot's penetrating analysis provides a comprehensive description of those African Americans who drink too much, and more importantly, the medical and social consequences of problem drinking.(pp. 45-61)

Chapter 5:
An Analysis of Stress Denial

In this chapter, Johnson and Crowley argue that their reading of the racism and stress research leads to the conclusion that it is virtually impossible for any African American to reach adulthood without having experienced at least one significant stressful life problem. To their surprise, however, these authors discover that a sizeable percentage of the National Survey of Black Americans sample reported never having been seriously upset by a personal problem. Thus, chapter 5 provides an important exploration of those African Americans who claim to have no problems at all. Johnson and Crowley ask the provocative question, "Are these people incredibly lucky, highly efficacious in their coping capacity -- or are they living in a perpetual state of denial?" (pp. 62-76)

Chapter 6:
Marital Status and Mental Health

Diane Brown has written extensively on the epidemiology of depression and anxiety among African Americans. In Chapter 6, "Marital Status and Mental Health," Brown focuses on whether married black men and women cope with stress differently than blacks whose marriages have fallen apart. But Brown does not stop there. She also answers the question whether getting married in the first place has any advantage at all over never marrying -- a lifestyle choice that is more and more a viable alternative for African American women. The major objective of Brown's analysis is to explore the relationship between marital status and psychiatric symptoms among adult African American males and females. The results of the analyses in chapter 6 show that while marriage may be better for one's mental health than being separated or divorced, marriage is not any better than having never married. Apparently, the lives of many African American adults are psychologically healthier in terms of minimizing the impact of stressful problems when they marry and stay married, or if they never marry at all. (pp. 77-94)

Chapter 7:
Anger-Hostility and Hypertension

The overt and covert racist insults that all African Americans at one time or another are subjected to cause tremendous internal anger and turmoil, especially when it is not always possible to act upon that anger. It is also well-known that hypertension is the great "silent killer" of African Americans, both male and female. In "The Association Between Anger-Hostility and Hypertension" (Chapter 7), Ernest Johnson and Lawrence Gant examine the relationship between hypertension and the expression of black anger toward those responsible for igniting those feelings. Johnson and Gant predict that hypertension is highest among those African Americans (male and female) who hold their feelings of rage inside rather than let it out. Johnson and Gant's chapter finds support for a relationship between hypertension and anger. They also reveal some rather surprising results with respect to gender and urbanicity which they speculate may be due to the actual method of measurement (self-report) used in the National Survey of Black Americans. (pp. 95-116)

Chapter 8:
Coping with Personal Problems

Although African Americans are highly exposed to stressful life circumstances, they typically show levels of psychiatric symptoms that are no higher than whites. This paradox has attracted much attention in the psychiatric epidemiologic literature (Kessler, 1979; Williams, 1995). In Chapter 8, "Coping with Personal Problems," Clifford Broman argues that black coping capacity is the under-studied factor that ameliorates the impact of stress on African American mental health. Broman points out that despite this very promising line of reasoning, there are surprisingly few empirical investigations focused explicitly on how African Americans cope with blocked opportunities and disappointments. Broman's chapter examines the different coping strategies African Americans use to deal with personal problems. His results show that blacks use a variety of coping strategies, but that such strategies vary tremendously depending on the type of personal problem confronting the individual, as well as such personal characteristics as gender and social status. Chapter 8 provides a strong argument for additional studies of how blacks cope with stress. It also represents a forceful testimony to the unique contribution of African American culture to the dynamics of survival. (pp. 117-129)

Chapter 9:
Kin and Non-Kin as Sources of Assistance

Previous analyses of the National Survey of Black Americans have shown the importance of informal social networks for African Americans (Chatters, Taylor & Neighbors, 1989). In fact, Taylor and Chatters' research has clearly documented the significance of kin and non-kin sources of assistance in coping with personal problems. Their studies describe the complex system of exchange provided by the black extended family and close friends. Chapter 9 is entitled, "Kin and Non-Kin as Sources of Informal Assistance." Here, Taylor, Chatters and Burns expand upon their previous gerontological research on family support by focusing on the informal networks of younger and middle-age blacks as well. This chapter also explores the use of informal help in a comprehensive fashion by actually differentiating the importance of family as opposed to friends and neighbors as sources of help in response to a serious personal problem. The findings reported by these authors reinforce the importance of the black family in providing the first line of assistance, especially for health problems. Taylor et al. caution us, however, about the possible over-reliance upon family helpers for health problems and provide evidence that people are more likely to use non-kin helpers for interpersonal problems.

Chapter 10:
Need and Help-Seeking Among African American Women

Chapter 10 also addresses help seeking behavior, but this investigation focuses exclusively on black women, exploring the combined use of informal and professional help. Cleopatra Caldwell argues that since it is impossible for professional helpers to service all blacks in need of assistance, it is necessary to distinguish among those African Americans who truly require professional help and those who will be fine with a little help from family, friends and neighbors (Neighbors & Jackson, 1984). Caldwell's analysis, "Predisposing, Enabling, and Need Factors Related to Patterns of Help Seeking Among Black Women," will aid efforts designed to augment mental health services by identifying additional community supports. This chapter also highlights the personal characteristics of those black women who will benefit most by using informal help alone as compared to those who need a combination of informal and professional help.

Chapter 11:
Symptoms and Service Utilization Among African American Women

Chapter 10 also addresses help seeking behavior, but this investigation focuses exclusively on black women, exploring the combined use of informal and professional help. Cleopatra Caldwell argues that since it is impossible for professional helpers to service all blacks in need of assistance, it is necessary to distinguish among those African Americans who truly require professional help and those who will be fine with a little help from family, friends and neighbors (Neighbors & Jackson, 1984). Caldwell's analysis, "Predisposing, Enabling, and Need Factors Related to Patterns of Help Seeking Among Black Women," will aid efforts designed to augment mental health services by identifying additional community supports. This chapter also highlights the personal characteristics of those black women who will benefit most by using informal help alone as compared to those who need a combination of informal and professional help.

Chapter 12:
The Police as a Reluctant Social Service Agency

The relationship between African Americans and law enforcement has been the center of much attention and debate. The message seems to be clear -- blacks and the police do not get along. In Chapter 12, "The Police as a Help Resource in African American Communities," Patricia Washington takes a refreshing look at this important topic. Washington demonstrates that despite much media attention, the role that police officers play in responding to the problems of African Americans has not received the amount of rigorous empirical investigation it deserves. Chapter 12 combines quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate the use of police assistance as a help resource during stressful situations. The chapter operates under the premise that some African Americans in distress do indeed request assistance from the police -- but only after exhausting other available help resources. It is also significant that many of the requests for police assistance do not involve directly matters of law enforcement. Washington's insights into how and why some African Americans are inclined (sometimes compelled) to turn to the police for personal problems will challenge many of the attitudes and beliefs we hold regarding the role of law enforcement in the lives of African Americans.

Chapter 12:
Changes in African American Mental Health

The last chapter offers a more dynamic view of the changes in some key indicators of African American mental health over the volatile period of the 1980s. Analyses in this chapter are based upon the National Survey of Black Americans Panel Survey (Jackson, Brown, Williams, Torres, Sellers, & Brown, in press) which followed the original 1980 National Survey of Black Americans respondents and interviewed a substantial number of them on three additional occasions, 1987, 1988-89, and finally in 1992. Our purpose in this last chapter is to continue the exploration of the important themes focused upon in the main sections of the volume. Thus, we examine the individual changes over the thirteen year period 1980 to 1992 in sources of positive life well-being, the distribution and nature of physical and mental health difficulties and life dissatisfactions, and the nature of the coping resources and ways of coping employed by African Americans in maintaining healthy psychological lives. An over-riding concern in this last chapter is the manner in which African Americans' emotional and psychological life may have shifted in response to the press and stressors engendered through a period of adverse economic, political, and social circumstances (Adams, under review; Jackson & Adams, 1992).