We Gon' Be Alright:

Examining Culturally
Relevant Coping
Strategies as
Protective Factors
for Black Romantic
Relationships
2023 IARR Conference
Tempe, AZ

Drs. August Jenkins, TeKisha Rice, Shardé McNeil Smith,

Allen Barton, & Steven Beach
 2

Black Relationships
& Stress
Historical legacy of macro-level stress marginalizes Black
couples (Murry et al., 2018)
• Mundane, extreme environmental stressors: discrimination
• Compromised relationship functioning
• Exposure and effects vary by social position: race, gender
intersections
• Culturally-relevant coping strategies could buffer the
effects of discrimination
3

Culturally-Relevant
Coping
John Henryism (James et al., 1983) Shift & Persist (Chen et al., 2012)

(JH) • High-effort, active coping (S & P) • Emotion-focused coping

• Shifting focus (e.g., cognitive
• Sustained efforts to gain control over
reappraisals) while maintaining hope
environment in the face of difficulty
for the future
• Previous research: better mental
• Previous research: better mental health
health, particularly for men (adverse
in face of discrimination
physical health consequences)
• For relationships: reappraise stressors
• For relationships: tendency towards
as less distressing or an opportunity for
active and effortful engagement in
growth
relationships
4

Study Goal
Examine JH and S&P coping strategies as modifiers of the association
between discrimination and relationship functioning among mixed-
gender Black couples, examining gender differences in these
associations

• Positive and negative dimensions of relationship functioning

 5

Method

Protecting Strong African American

Variable Women / Men
Families (ProSAAF intervention)
• Cross-sectional, self-report
Age 43.30 / 46.77
data
• 140 mixed-gender married or
Working 72% / 73%
cohabitating couples
• Mostly married and working-
Education Associate/ HS Diploma
poor
6

Measures
Racist Hassles Questionnaire, 13-items
• “How often has someone said something insulting
to you just because of your race or ethnic
background?”

John Henryism Active Coping Scale, 12-items

• “When things don’t go the way I want them to,
that makes me work even harder”

Shift-and-Persist Coping scale: 6-item shift subscale

& 11-item persist subscale
• "When times are tough, I stay focused on the
future."

Spousal Social Support scale, 15-items

• "How often does my partner encourage or help
you to do things that are important to you?"

Ineffective Arguing Inventory, 8-items

• “When you and your partner argue, nobody really
seems to win.”
7

Analysis Women's
• Path analysis via Mplus Support
• Both outcomes for both
partners modeled Actor's Men's
simultaneously Discrimination Support
• Actor effects as predictors
• 2-way interactions between
Coping Strategy
discrimination X coping Interaction
• Coping strategies tested
Women's
separately Conflict
• Gender differences tested
Men's
via constrained paths
Conflict
Page 08

Descriptive
Results
Discrimination Support
Women: 18.84 (6.07) Women: 19.65 (5.24)
Men: 20.49 (7.67) Men: 18.31 (4.30)

John Henryism Conflict

Women: 49.81 (7.18) Women: 59.06 (10.03)
Men: 49.56 (9.22) Men: 59.46 (8.19)
Shift & Persist
Women: 0.01 (.83)
Men: -0.06 (1.02)
 9

Results: JH
Women's
Support

Actor's Men's
Support
Discrimination

John Henryism

Interaction
Women's
Conflict
Men's
Conflict
c2 (30) = 24.84, p = .733
RMSEA = .00, CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .05
 10

Results: S & P
Women's
Support
Actor's Men's
Discrimination Support

Shift & Persist

Interaction Women's
Conflict
Men's
Conflict

c2 (29) = 13.76, p = .993

RMSEA = .00, CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .03

Take Aways
Future directions
• Additional stressors
• Partner effects
• Longitudinal, intensive data
13
Implications:
• Bolstering couple's knowledge
of coping strategies
• Situational fit for relational
deployment
• Highlight the relevance of
racial context and intersections
THANK YOU:
All my collaborators and labmates:
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - Human
Development and Family Studies Department
Illinois DRIVE Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship
Virginia Tech - Human Development and Family Studies
Department
University of Georgia - Department of Psychology

Participants who shared data about their lives.

Grants R01 HD069439 from the National Institute of Child

Health and Human Development and R01 AG059260 from
the National Institute on Aging to Steven R. H. Beach
References:
Barton, A. W., Beach, S. R. H., Wells, A. C., Ingels, J. B., Corso, P. S., Sperr, M. C., Anderson, T. N., & Brody, G. H. (2018). The Protecting Strong African

American Families Program: A randomized controlled trial with rural African American couples. Prevention Science, 19(7), 904–913.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0895-4

Chen, E., Miller, G. E., Lachman, M. E., Gruenewald, T. L., & Seeman, T. E. (2012). Protective factors for adults from low-childhood socioeconomic

circumstances: The benefits of shift-and-persist for allostatic load. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74(2), 178–186.

https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31824206fd

Culp, L. N., & Beach, S. R. H. (1998). Marriage and depressive symptoms: The role and bases of self-esteem differ by gender. Psychology of Women

Quarterly, 22(4), 647–663.

Harrell, S., Merchant, M., & Young, S. (1997). Psychometric properties of the racism and life experiences scales (RaLES). Poster Presented at the

American Psychological Association Convention. https://www.academia.edu/download/50883579/ RaLES_Psychometric_Paper.pdf

James, S. A., Hartnett, S. A., & Kalsbeek, W. D. (1983). John Henryism and blood pressure differences among Black men. Journal of Behavioral

Medicine, 6(3), 259–278. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01315113

Kurdek, L. A. (1994). Conflict resolution styles in gay, lesbian, heterosexual nonparent, and heterosexual parent couples. Journal of Marriage and the

Family, 56(3), 705. https://doi.org/10.2307/352880

Murry, V. M. B., Berkel, C., & Liu, N. (2018). The closing digital divide: Delivery modality and family attendance in the Pathways for African American

Success ( PAAS ) Program. Prevention Science, 19(5), 642–651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0863-z

LET'S
CONNECT

aj34@illinois.edu August Jenkins augustjenkins5