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Cited by 112Racial and Ethnic Identity ResearchGender Roles and Identity StudiesHealth disparities and outcomes

Racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among African-American men: The mediating and moderating roles of masculine self-reliance and John Henryism.

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Matthews, Derrick D., Hammond, Wizdom Powell, Nuru-Jeter, Amani, Cole-Lewis, Yasmin, Melvin, Travis·2013·Psychology of Men & Masculinity
DOI 10.1037/a0028436PMC PMC6197817
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Abstract

Despite well-documented associations between everyday racial discrimination and depression, mechanisms underlying this association among African-American men are poorly understood. Guided by the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, we frame masculine self-reliance and John Henryism as appraisal mechanisms that influence the relationship between racial discrimination, a source of significant psychosocial stress, and depressive symptoms among African-American men. We also investigate whether the proposed relationships vary by reported discrimination-specific coping responses. Participants were 478 African-American men recruited primarily from barbershops in the West and South regions of the United States. Multiple linear regression and Sobel-Goodman mediation analyses were used to examine direct and mediated associations between our study variables. Racial discrimination and masculine self-reliance were positively associated with depressive symptoms, though the latter only among active responders. John Henryism was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, mediated the masculine self-reliance-depressive symptom relationship, and among active responders moderated the racial discrimination-depressive symptoms relationship. Though structural interventions are essential, clinical interventions designed to mitigate the mental health consequences of racial discrimination among African-American men should leverage masculine self-reliance and active coping mechanisms.

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  • Within the Black community, John Henryism may be used more often to cope with race-related stressors and negative messages devaluing Blackness.

    “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).”

    From Impostor Phenomenon and Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Roles of John Henryism and School Racial Composition Among Black College Students (2020) · cites this paper as Matthews et al., 2013

    The “John Henryism, Racial Discrimination, and Depression” section says African-American men use John Henryism to cope with racist social environments and race-related microaggressions. The copy does not establish that it is used more frequently than other coping strategies or by the Black community broadly, nor does it specifically discuss messages devaluing Blackness. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Sustained high-effort coping may harm mental health because coping with chronic stress depletes psychological resources over time.

    “researchers have argued that sustained high effort coping may compromise mental health as the effort and energy needed to cope with chronic stress may deplete psychological resources over time (Matthews et al., 2013).”

    From Impostor Phenomenon and Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Roles of John Henryism and School Racial Composition Among Black College Students (2020) · cites this paper as Matthews et al., 2013

  • Chronic reliance on active coping may increase risk for physical and psychological outcomes over time, especially when stressors are outside one's control.

    “First, chronic reliance on active coping may actually increase risk for physical and psychological outcomes over time (Matthews et al., 2013; Volpe et al., 2020), especially when stressors are outside of one’s own control (Greer & Brown, 2011).”

    From Impostor Phenomenon and Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Roles of John Henryism and School Racial Composition Among Black College Students (2020) · cites this paper as Matthews et al., 2013

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Matthews, D. D., Hammond, W. P., Nuru-Jeter, A., Cole-Lewis, Y., & Melvin, T.
Affiliations
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
ORCID
Venue
Psychology of Men & Masculinity
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2013-01
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
35-46
ISSN
  • 1524-9220 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-151X
DOI
10.1037/a0028436
PMC
PMC6197817
OpenAlex
W2333188222
Cited by
112
References
100
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
12.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychology of Men & Masculinity (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • University of North Carolina Cancer Research Fund
  • National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (1L60MD002605-01)
  • National Cancer Institute (3U01CA114629-04S2))
  • UNC Center for Aids Research (CFAR P30 AI50410)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
Keywords
racial discrimination, depressive symptoms, African American men, John Henryism, transactional model of stress and coping, coping responses, active coping, mediation, moderation, psychosocial stress, barbershops

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