A Comparison of the Occurrence and Perceived Stress of Major Life Events in Black and White Women |
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| Authors: | Anissa I. Vines PhD MS Myduc Ta PhD MPH Denise Esserman PhD Donna D. Baird PhD |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Epidemiology , Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;2. Department of Medicine , School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;3. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA |
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| Abstract: | Purpose: To describe the occurrence and perceived stress of major life events, and to investigate whether adjusting for socioeconomic status reduced race/ethnicity differences. Methods: Black (n = 639) and white (n = 419) women aged 35–49 years responded to 14 major life event questions within the domains of employment, health, relationship, finance, residential change, and crime. Main Findings: The total number of life events did not differ by race/ethnicity, but black women reported significantly more events in the domains of relationship, financial, and residential change than white women. White women generally reported higher stress for a given event than black women, although for “residential change” black women reported more severe stress than the white women. Conclusions: Inclusion of both the occurrence and perceived stress of major life events can improve our understanding of how this stressor may affect health. |
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| Keywords: | stress life events race women's health |
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