Black adults in the rural South experience elevated financial strain and other contextual stressors, increasing their risk for poor health. Supportive relationships, particularly positive romantic relationships, have been shown to offset these risks. The present study aims to provide experimental evidence of the buffering effect of supportive relationships by testing whether participation in a relationship enhancement program (ProSAAF) that improves couple functioning (Barton, Beach, Wells, et al., 2018) subsequently buffers the effect of cumulative financial strain on biological aging (weathering). Postintervention financial strain was assessed four times. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from peripheral whole blood collected 6 years after baseline (n = 348 individuals), and patterns of methylation were used to index accelerated pace of aging. Couple functioning was treated as a latent construct comprising four self-report indicators: effective communication, relationship confidence, relationship satisfaction, and perceived partner support. Results indicated that cumulative financial strain was associated with accelerated pace of aging with a medium to large effect size. This effect was moderated by change in couple functioning such that individuals with greater improvement in couple functioning showed less epigenetic aging in response to cumulative financial strain. Additionally, there was a significant indirect buffering effect of ProSAAF on the association between cumulative financial strain and accelerated pace of aging. This is the first study to demonstrate that a couple-focused preventive intervention can reduce the impact of financial strain on rate of aging by enhancing couple functioning.

Black Americans have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand changes in and predictors of their mental and physical health, in the current study, we used three waves of data (two prepandemic and a third during summer 2020) from 329 Black men and women in the rural South. Results indicated that health worsened after the onset of the pandemic, including increased depressive symptoms and sleep problems and decreased self-reported general health. Greater exposure to COVID-19-related stressors was significantly associated with poorer health. Prepandemic stressors (financial strain, racial discrimination, chronic stress) and prepandemic resources (marital quality, general support from family and friends) were significantly associated with exposure to COVID-19-related stressors and with health during the pandemic. Findings underscore how the pandemic posed the greatest threats to Black Americans with more prepandemic psychosocial risks and highlight the need for multifaceted interventions that address current and historical stressors among this population.

Objective: This study examined whether a family-focused prevention program for African American families could buffer the negative effect of perceived financial strain on protective parent-child interactions and thereby reduce the indirect effect of financial strain on youth conduct problems. Method: Three hundred and forty-six African American couples with an early adolescent child (M age = 10.9 years at Wave 1 [W1]) participated. Families were randomly assigned to the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) prevention program or to a no-treatment control condition and provided data prerandomization (W1) and postintervention, Wave 2 (W2), 9.4 months after W1. Youth and both parents reported family financial strain at W1 and protective parent-child interactions at W1 and W2. Youth reported their conduct problems at W1 and W2. Hypotheses were tested using moderated mediation analyses. Results: ProSAAF significantly moderated the negative effect of youth-reported financial strain on changes in protective parenting interactions such that financial strain was not significantly associated with changes in protective parenting among the intervention group, thus reducing the indirect effect of financial strain on increases in youth conduct problems among this group. Parent-reported financial strain was not significantly associated with changes in protective parenting in either condition, precluding the potential for stress buffering intervention effects. Conclusions: The ProSAAF prevention program buffered the negative effect of youthreported financial strain on protective parenting interactions and reduced its indirect effect on youth conduct problems. These findings suggest that family-focused prevention has the potential to promote resilience among African American youth perceiving family financial strain.What is the public health significance of this article? This study demonstrates that a family-focused prevention program for African Americans buffers the negative effect of youth-reported family financial strain on protective interactions with their parents, reducing youths' risk for conduct problems. These findings are important in suggesting that familyfocused prevention can play a role in protecting African American youth from the negative sequalae associated with their perceptions of financial difficulties.

This study examines whether shift‐and‐persist coping, a coping strategy defined by accepting challenges and remaining hopeful for the future, is associated with psychosocial and physical health and/or moderates the effects of contextual stress (i.e., racial discrimination, financial strain) on health among African American adolescents living in the rural Southeastern United States. Participants (N = 299, 56% boys, Mage = 12.91) completed measures of shift‐and‐persist coping, contextual stress, and psychosocial and physical health. Shift‐and‐persist coping was generally associated with better health but did not buffer the effects of contextual stress. Results suggest that shift‐and‐persist coping may serve as a source of resilience among African American adolescents living in a context where many experience heightened contextual stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial hardship for Black Americans, leading to increased stress and mental health difficulties. We used longitudinal data from the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) intervention study to test the hypothesis that improved couple functioning following ProSAAF participation would serve as a constructed resilience resource during the pandemic, buffering the impact of elevated pandemic-related stressors on change in depressive symptoms. We found that COVID-19-related stress predicted change in depressive symptoms from prepandemic to during the pandemic, that ProSAAF predicted improved couple functioning, and that positive change in couple functioning buffered the impact of pandemic stressors on change in depressive symptoms. These effects resulted in a significant indirect buffering effect of ProSAAF on the association between COVID-19-related stress and change in depressive symptoms through its effects on change in couple functioning. The results suggest that relationship intervention may increase resilience to unanticipated community-wide stress and promote mental health.