Stress and Coping among Black Women Employed in Non-professional Service and Professional Occupations in Florida and Georgia

Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2015 Aug;36(8):621-31. doi: 10.3109/01612840.2014.1002643.

Abstract

Culture enhances the ability to address the stressors related to ethnicity/race, employment, and lifestyle. From this interaction, two coping patterns emerge: individualist-oriented or collectivist-oriented, of which women prefer the latter. However, there is limited knowledge about the impact of ethnicity/race on the coping strategies of Black working women in the USA. Therefore, the purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to examine the coping strategies of two groups of Black women, those who work in non-professional service-related jobs and those employed as professionals. We explored Black women from two southern states, Florida and Georgia, in their use of coping strategies for everyday stressors. A modified version of Lazarus and Folkman's Transactional Model was used as the framework of this study. The sample for this cross-sectional survey consisted of 313 Black women employed in non-professional service jobs and 343 in professional roles. The thoughts and actions related to coping in everyday stressors were measured with The Ways of Coping Questionnaire.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adult
  • Black or African American / psychology*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Employment*
  • Female
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Occupations
  • Prospective Studies
  • Stress, Psychological / ethnology*
  • Stress, Psychological / prevention & control*
  • Women, Working / psychology*
  • Young Adult