Racial discrimination, John Henryism coping, and behavioral health conditions among predominantly poor, urban African Americans: Implications for community‐level opioid problems and mental health services

“…simply a nuisance for black people: these experiences are taxing stressors that have been found to have profound physical health and behavioral health consequences (Carter, Lau, Johnson, & Kirkinis, 2017; Jones & Neblett, in press; Williams and Mohammed, 2009; Zapolski, Faidley, & Beutlich, 2018).”

“Several scholars have attempted to elucidate the ways in which racial discrimination might impact health (Clark et al., 1999; Gee, Walsemann, and Brondolo, 2012; Williams & Mohammed, 2009; Williams & Mohammed, 2013).”

“This scale also has acceptable metric properties (Krieger & Sidney, 1996; Krieger et al., 2005) and has been used widely in other published reports examining mood, anxiety and substance use disorders (McLaughlin et al.”

“Active coping refers to cognitive or behavioral strategies to address the root causes of stressors while passive coping are cognitive and/or behavioral attempts to avoid stressors or reduce the resultant emotions that arise from such stress (Billings & Moos, 1981).”

“The Experience of Discrimination Scale was used to assess participants’ experiences of discrimination in a variety of settings (Krieger, 1990; Krieger & Sidney, 1996).”

“The Experience of Discrimination Scale was used to assess participants’ experiences of discrimination in a variety of settings (Krieger, 1990; Krieger & Sidney, 1996).”

“…(Krieger & Sidney, 1996; Krieger et al., 2005) and has been used widely in other published reports examining mood, anxiety and substance use disorders (McLaughlin et al., 2010), discrimination in the medical setting (Benjamins & Whitman, 2014), and child and youth health (Priest et al., 2013).”

“Reliability for John Henryism has been confirmed (Fernander et al., 2003) for both low-SES (James et al., 1983) and high-SES Blacks (Bonham et al., 2004).”

“Several scholars have attempted to elucidate the ways in which racial discrimination might impact health (Clark et al., 1999; Gee, Walsemann, and Brondolo, 2012; Williams & Mohammed, 2009; Williams & Mohammed, 2013).”

“, 2001), as well as compromised behavioral health (i.e., psychological disorders and substance abuse; Hudson et al., 2016; Kiecolt et al., 2009).”

“Importantly, studies have shown that despite high mental health problems (e.g., depression), Blacks are 50% less likely to receive mental health treatment and services than Whites (McGuire & Miranda, 2014).”

“Other major cities such as Chicago also have noticed a 56% higher overdose rate in 2015 to 2016 amongst their black communities than their white (James & Jordan, 2018).”

“At the same time, given the pervasiveness of racial discrimination, it is also possible for passive coping to be employed, given that these strategies are often used when it is assumed that one’s circumstances will not change (Blalock & Joiner, 2000).”

“, 2005) and has been used widely in other published reports examining mood, anxiety and substance use disorders (McLaughlin et al., 2010), discrimination in the medical setting (Benjamins & Whitman, 2014), and child and youth health (Priest et al.”

“Coping responses to racial discrimination can be categorized along a multiaxial plane, including active/passive and adaptive/maladaptive (Nielsen & Knardahl, 2014).”

“However, over time, the construct has been linked to negative physical health outcomes, such as hypertension (e.g., Bennett et al., 2004; Clark et al., 2001), as well as compromised behavioral health (i.e., psychological disorders and substance abuse; Hudson et al., 2016; Kiecolt et al., 2009).”

“For example, Bowser (1981) and Fernando (1984) posit that black people have developed adoptive strategies to reduce the discrimination they experience by processing it as psychological stress rather than an internalizing symptom like depression, thereby preventing the experience of discrimination…”

“Previous research has found an association between John Henryism and psychological health indicators (e.g., depression, self-esteem; Bronder et al., 2014; Stevens-Watkins et al., 2014); however, to our knowledge this is the first study to demonstrate John Henryism coping as related to substance use or abuse per se, th…”

“One active coping strategy frequently employed by Black people to navigate racial discrimination is John Henryism (James et al., 1983; Matthews et al., 2013).”

“Reliability for John Henryism has been confirmed (Fernander et al., 2003) for both low-SES (James et al., 1983) and high-SES Blacks (Bonham et al., 2004).”

“(Carliner et al., 2016; Clark, 2014; Parenteau et al., 2017; Williams & Mohammed, 2009).”

“, 2001), as well as compromised behavioral health (i.e., psychological disorders and substance abuse; Hudson et al., 2016; Kiecolt et al., 2009).”

“(Carliner et al., 2016; Clark, 2014; Parenteau et al., 2017; Williams & Mohammed, 2009).”

“In addition, help-seeking behavior, even when problems are present, may be blunted, particularly if one feels they may face discrimination in such spaces (Woodward et al., 2010).”

“, 2017) or cigarette use (Chavez et al., 2015), though studies have also included marijuana (e.”

“Importantly, studies have shown that despite high mental health problems (e.g., depression), Blacks are 50% less likely to receive mental health treatment and services than Whites (McGuire & Miranda, 2014).”

“Previous research has found an association between John Henryism and psychological health indicators (e.g., depression, self-esteem; Bronder et al., 2014; Stevens-Watkins et al., 2014); however, to our knowledge this is the first study to demonstrate John Henryism coping as related to substance use or abuse per se, th…”

“Reliability for John Henryism has been confirmed (Fernander et al., 2003) for both low-SES (James et al., 1983) and high-SES Blacks (Bonham et al., 2004).”

“…of findings have centered on the relationship between racial discrimination and alcohol use (e.g., Parenteau et al., 2017) or cigarette use (Chavez et al., 2015), though studies have also included marijuana (e.g., Steele, 2016) and other illicit drug use (Carliner et al., 2016; Clark, 2014).”

“However, over time, the construct has been linked to negative physical health outcomes, such as hypertension (e.g., Bennett et al., 2004; Clark et al., 2001), as well as compromised behavioral health (i.”

“The scale has demonstrated acceptable validity as a measure of active coping and has been associated with conditions related to the current study including substance use (Stevens-Watkins et al., 2016) and depression (Hudson et al., 2016).”

“Within the Black community, John Henrysim may be used more frequently as a means to negotiate race-related stressors and negative messages that devalue what it means to be Black in broader society (Jones et al., 2019; Matthews et al., 2013).”

“…acts of unprofessionalism • Only in certain contexts (e.g., all Black setting away from non-African Americans) were Black males comfortable expressing their feelings of anger, frustration, annoyance, and irritation Jones et al., 2019 319 Black adults Mage = 44.6 (continued on next page) T.K.”

“For Black Americans, discrimination is associated with poorer life satisfaction, interpersonal issues, and psychological distress (Shawn et al., 2019).”

“Studies have shown it is associated with lower perceived problems with opioid use (Jones et al., 2019), lower nicotine dependence (Fernander et al., 2005), and decreased likelihood of having engaged in substance use treatment (Stevens-Watkins et al., 2016).”

“For instance, African Americans may engage in John Henryism active coping , which is conceived as a high-effort active coping technique to deal with external stressors, particularly in the context of racial discrimination (Hudson et al., 2016; James, 1994; Jones et al., 2019).”

“…research has shown JH has demonstrated associations with systolic blood pressure in men (Barajas et al., 2019), self-reporting of an opioid problem (Jones et al., 2019), and inverse associations with medication adherence (Cuffee et al., 2020), as well as depression in women (Bronder et al., 2014).”

“…between PTSD and nonmedical BZD use were consistent with previous literature, the lack of a significant relationship between JHAC and BZD was contrary to previous evidence that higher levels of JHAC are associated with lower occurrence of substance use (Jones et al., 2019; Wheeler et al., 2022).”

“Higher levels of JH active coping were also associated with lower odds of needing mental health services or reporting opioid abuse [7].”