Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress in Family Stress Theories

The Ethnic Context of Child and Adolescent Problem Behavior: Implications for Child and Family Interventions

“…The Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress model (MEES; Peters & Massey, 1983) describes the immediate environment of ethnic minority families as one where there is ''constant threat and actual periodic occurrences of intimidation, discrimination, or denial because of race. The stresses which families face-sometimes subtle, sometimes overt-are pervasive, continuous, and debilitating' ' (p. 196).…”

The impact of ecological risk and perceived discrimination on the psychological adjustment of African American and European American youth

“…That is, in the presence of these negative factors, the relationship between risk and mental health outcomes is amplified~Rutter, 1990!. We derive our hypothesis that perceived racial discrimination might function as a vulnerability factor from Peters and Massey's Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress model~MEES; Peters & Massey, 1983!, which conceptualizes racism as a chronic contextual stressor in the lives of African Americans. According to the MEES model, racial discrimination exacerbates the effects of co-occurring stressful events.…”

How social and cultural contexts shape the development of coping: Youth in the inner city as an example

“…For example, we have argued that inner-city life not only entails more losses, stressful life events, and daily hassles, but is also marked by higher levels of chronic environmental stress (Tolan, Guerra, & Montaini-Klovdahl, 1997). Chronic environmental stress involves ongoing threats to well-being and personal control (Peters & Massey, 1983). In addition, we highlighted the relevance of role strain, defined as stress from one's inability to fulfill socially ascribed roles (Pearlin, 1983).…”