| The current study is a cross-sectional examination of African American men's primary preventive health practices. A key aim of this study was to identify factors that might facilitate or impede African American men's willingness to engage in preventive health behavior. Specifically, this study investigates psychosocial correlates of medical mistrust, preventive health services utilization, and self-protective health practices among a community-drawn sample of African American men (N = 216). Participants were primarily recruited from barbershops and educational institutions/events in the Midwest and Southeast regions. Questionnaire items specifically assessed male role norms, perceived racism in health care, medical mistrust, patient care experiences, spiritual/religious beliefs, health locus of control orientations, health socialization, health motivation, social support experiences, and health self-efficacy. Specific preventive health practices examined include screening delays, routine health visit scheduling, dietary practices, and physical activity. Multivariate analyses were employed to assess the relationship between the study variables. A mediation analysis was also conducted to test the indirect effects of perceptions of racism in healthcare.;Study results indicate that higher levels of medical mistrust among African American men in the sample are positively associated with general discrimination experiences, traditional male role norms, patient-physician interactions, and perceptions of racism in healthcare. A mediation analysis confirmed that perceived racism in healthcare serves as a mediator between previous discrimination experiences and medical mistrust. With respect to preventive health practices, results indicate that healthcare access, health locus of control, and marital status predicted screening delays among African American men. In addition, African American men who were married and had a usual source of healthcare were more likely to report having scheduled a routine health visit in the past 12 months. Medical mistrust also decreased the odds of having scheduled a routine health visit in the past 12 months. African American men's dietary behavior was predicted by health socialization, self-efficacy, health self-determinism, and social stress. Regular engagement in physical activity among African American men was more likely to occur when men felt more self-efficacious. Together, these findings suggest that African American men's preventive health behavior is determined by a variety of psychosocial, socioenvironmental, historical, and healthcare system factors. Policy and clinical implications are discussed. |
