How Racism “Gets Under the Skin”: An Examination of the Physical- and Mental-Health Costs of Culturally Compelled Coping

Abstract

Historically and contemporarily, Black Americans have been compelled to use effortful coping styles characterized by high behavioral and emotional restraint in the face of systematic racism. Lynch and colleagues have previously conceptualized a class of regulatory strategies—overcontrolled coping—characterized by emotional suppression, hypervigilance for threat, and high distress tolerance, which bear close analogy to coping styles frequently used among individuals facing chronic racial stress. However, given the inherent culture of racism in the United States, engaging in highly controlled coping strategies is often necessitated and adaptive, at least in the short term. Thus, for Black Americans this class of coping strategies is conceptualized as culturally compelled coping rather than overcontrolled coping. In the current article, I offer a critical examination of the literature and introduce a novel theoretical model—culturally compelled coping—that culturally translates selected components of Lynch’s model. Cultural translation refers to considering how the meaning, function, and consequences of using overcontrolled coping strategies changes when considering how Black Americans exist and cope within a culture of systematic racism. Importantly, this model may offer broad implications for future research and treatment by contextualizing emotion regulation as a central mechanism, partially answering how racism “gets under the skin” and affects the health of Black Americans.

Culturally compelled coping and depressive symptoms in Black Americans: Examining the role of psychophysiological regulatory capacity.

“…Therefore, for those with higher resting HRV, they may have both reason and resources to engage in CCC, like restraint and vigilance. Yet, having to constantly deploy physiological resources afforded by greater parasympathetic control may eventually "wear down the brakes," and, as a result, contribute to worse mental, as well as physical health outcomes (for the model of CCC and its impact on health, see Brownlow, 2023). Consequently, chronic racialized stress may both increase the need for effortful engagement of HRV via inhibitory coping tendencies, while simultaneously undermining the protective effects of higher resting HRV, given the greater regulatory demand Black individuals face.…”

“…Therefore, these “overcontrolled” emotion regulatory styles were reconceptualized as CCC (see Brownlow, 2023 for full review) . Importantly, CCC strategies may still have detrimental consequences for physical and mental health for Black Americans in the long run, particularly given that these strategies must often be used persistently.…”

How the “Black criminal” stereotype shapes Black people’s psychological experience of policing: Evidence of stereotype threat and remaining questions.

“…The stress, anxiety, and negative emotions attendant to feelings of stereotype threat prompt people to engage in both automatic and deliberate cognition as they attempt to cope with the demands of the situation. Humans are neurobiologically wired to reflexively orient their attention to stimuli that signal risks to safety and well-being (Davis & Whalen, 2001), and there is evidence that this cognitive vigilance occurs both automatically and consciously in response to potential threats that are tied to social identities (Inzlicht & Kang, 2010; Kaiser et al, 2006; Murphy et al, 2007; see Brownlow, 2022). People under threat search for interpersonal and contextual cues that either prove or disprove that they are being stereotyped.…”

“…In reaction, they purposefully worked to mitigate stereotyping by dressing conservatively, limiting where they go, avoiding confrontation, and modeling respectability. In this way, Black men take on responsibility for countering negative racial stereotypes not only for themselves but also for Black people as a collective (see also Brownlow, 2022).…”

“…Whereas stereotype threat may automatically manifest in behavior, it is well established that people also deliberately try to confute negative beliefs that they think others have about them by modulating their behavior (Hilton & Darley, 1985; Smith et al, 1997; see Brownlow, 2022; Miller & Meyer, 1998, for reviews). As one example, Shelton et al (2005) showed that Black participants who thought their White interaction partners were prejudiced reported more negative affect, felt less authentic, and liked their partners less than did nonthreatened Black participants.…”