Skin tone, coping, and cardiovascular responses to ethnically relevant stimuli

Few researchers have systematically examined how African Americans perceive and respond to environmental stressors. Two stressors that may be relevant to the life experiences of African Americans are intra- and inter-ethnic group racism, the former associated with skin tone differences. The current study investigated how skin tone and styles of coping with racism influence cardiovascular responding during speaking tasks. These tasks involved preparing and delivering 3-minute speeches on each of the following topics: intra-ethnic group racism, inter-ethnic group racism, and animal rights. A noninvasive automated monitor was used to obtain measures of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate as 57 female participants negotiated each task. Following their delivery of the ethnically relevant speeches, racism-specific coping styles (problem-focused and emotion focused) were assessed. Skin tone was assessed at the end of the laboratory session with a device measuring the amount of light reflected from the participant's forehead. As hypothesized, racism-specific coping styles differentially predicted cardiovascular responding. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that problem-focused coping was inversely related to cardiovascular responding and was the most consistent predictor of the dependent variables across the ethnically-relevant speaking tasks. Alternatively, emotion-focused coping was positively associated with cardiovascular responding. Unexpectedly, skin tone was not associated with cardiovascular responding in the multivariate analysis of variance models. This study provides empirical evidence that styles of coping with racism contribute to pressor response variability.