Employment, stress, coping and health in two ethnic populations of Black men

This dissertation investigates relationships among employment factors, stress perceptions, coping behavior, and health status in two ethnic groups of Black men: U.S. Black Caribbean and African American. The stress-coping paradigm elaborates a process where perceptions of stress lead to coping behaviors that ultimately compromise health status. Employment has been identified as a primary social context that initiates this process for Black men. However, this dissertation argues that ethnicity influences this process. These analyses examine data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Ethnic differences in employment satisfaction and differences in relationships between employment factors and reports of stress were found. Moreover, the effectiveness of resources used to cope with stress, and the influence of various stressors on the relationship between employment and health also varied by ethnicity. Results from this dissertation research may be used to generate additional hypotheses to understand the influence of employment and stress on the health of various ethnic groups of Black men.