Explaining the Minority Status Hypothesis: Development of the Cultural Resilience Life Stress Paradigm

Abstract

This paper reviews recent empirical studies (N = 13) that focused on two cultural resources (spirituality and racial identity) utilized by African-Americans to cope with stress in an attempt to: 1) Provide some explanations why the minority status hypothesis is unfounded in most epidemiologic community surveys; and 2) Develop a theoretical framework that explicates this phenomenon. The review shows that both spirituality and racial identity reduced the negative impact of life stressors while producing positive effects on African-Americans’ well-being whereby affecting their mental health status. The findings allow the authors to build upon the existing life stress paradigm to produce a theoretical framework, The Cultural Resilience Life Stress Paradigm, which illustrates the life stress-distress pathway to mental health status revealed by the literature. This theoretical framework intends to increase understanding about cultural resources as a basic premise for improving and enhancing mental health promoting programs’ policies and practices. ic status [6]; and exposure to [7]. While these correlations should work to substantiate a minority status hypothesis, findings from five epidemiologic community surveys-the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study [8]; the National Comorbidity Survey [9]; the National Survey of American Life [10]; the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions, 2001-2002 [11] and the 2008 National Health Interview Survey [12] present the minority mental health status dilemma. These five national studies indicate that the mental health status of African-Americans is comparable to, and possibly better than, those of Whites. Further, independent of the relative health of African Americans, this racial group’s mental health status is better than might be expected based on the prevalence of stressors alone. The disproportionate rate of stress and the lower than expected rates of mental disorders among African-Americans has raised a number of questions regarding the cultural factors related to their mental health. African-American cultural coping Culture influences mental health status and seems to play a role in how people cope with stressors [13]. Although African-Americans are exposed to more stressors than Whites, they take an active role in dealing with stressors rather than avoiding them [14]. African Americans appraise stressful situations as changeable more frequently than Whites [15] and are more likely than Whites to engage in healthy coping skills [16]. In an attempt at identifying the coping capacity of African-Americans, Edwards [17] conducted a qualitative Review ARticle