Social patterning of stress and coping: Does disadvantaged social statuses confer more stress and fewer coping resources?

Abstract

Despite its centrality to social stress theory, research on the social patterning of stress exposure and coping resources has been sparse and existing research shows conflicting results. We interviewed 396 gay, lesbian and bisexual, and 128 heterosexual people in New York City to examine variability in exposure to stress related to sexual orientation, gender, and race/ethnicity. Multiple linear regressions showed clear support for the social stress hypothesis with regard to race/ethnic minority status, somewhat mixed support with regard to sexual orientation, and no support with regard to gender. We discuss this lack of parsimony in social stress explanations for health disparities.

Associations of Discrimination and Violence With Smoking Among Emerging Adults: Differences by Gender and Sexual Orientation

“…For instance, some studies have used measures of personal experiences of specific sexual orientation-based discrimination, ranging from multiple-item inventories (Mays & Cochran, 2001;Meyer, Schwartz, & Frost, 2008) to single questions (Huebner, Rebshook, & Kegeles, 2004;Meyer, 1995;OrtizHernandez et al, 2009). Yet another way of defining discrimination was developed in recent work by Hatzenbuehler et al (2010), who used presence of state-level constitutional bans on gay marriage as a measure of discrimination.…”

Perceived stigma and self-stigma of problem gambling: perspectives of people with gambling problems

“…Attention to multiple disadvantaged social statuses is important in designing effective interventions to combat stigma and to find the root cause of health disparities (Stuber, Mayer, & Link, 2008). Having multiple marginalized statuses has been found to have differing effects on stigma (Deacon, 2006;Goudge, Ngoma, Manderson, & Schneider, 2009;Meyer, Schwartz, & Frost, 2008), but this has not been investigated for problem gambling. Additionally, the role of gender in problem gambling stigma requires dedicated studies, especially considering that females appear to be less stigmatized than males for having a mental health problem (Farina, 1981), but more stigmatized for alcohol or drug abuse (Robbins, 1989).…”

A Socioecological Approach to Relational Demography: How Relative Representation and Respectful Coworkers Affect Job Attitudes

“…Indeed, ethnic minorities tend to be subject to higher scrutiny and visibility than majority group members (Jackson, Thoits, & Taylor, 1995). This likely stems from chronic negative experiences associated with bearing an identity that is associated with lower status (Meyer, Schwartz, & Frost, 2008;Pinel, 1999). As a result, ethnic minority employees are more likely than White employees to be aware of and attend to cues related to ethnicity.…”