Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Working Together with God: Religious Coping, Perceived Discrimination, and Hypertension

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Religion and Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examined the relationships of perceived discrimination and religious coping with hypertension in a sample of Black and White Seventh-day Adventists. Data come from a community-based sample of 6128 White American, 2253 African American and 927 Caribbean American adults (67% women; mean age = 62.9 years). Results indicate lifetime unfair treatment was significantly associated with hypertension regardless of race/ethnicity. Positive religious coping was associated with lower odds of hypertension and did not interact with unfair treatment. Both positive and negative religious coping were indirectly associated with increased hypertension risk through an increase in perceived discrimination.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agyemang, C., Bhopal, R., & Bruijnzeels, M. (2005). Negro, Black, Black African, African Caribbean, African American or what? Labelling African origin populations in the health arena in the 21st century. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,59(12), 1014.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Baer, H. A., & Singer, M. (1992). African-American religion in the twentieth centiry: Varieties of protest and accommodation. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, C. N., Thorpe, R. J., Jr., Bowie, J. V., & LaVeist, T. A. (2018). Race disparities in cardiovascular disease risk factors within socioeconomic status strata. Annals of Epidemiology,28(3), 147–152.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Borrell, L. N., Jacobs, D. R., Jr., Williams, D. R., Pletcher, M. J., Houston, T. K., & Kiefe, C. I. (2007). Self-reported racial discrimination and substance use in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Adults Study. American Journal of Epidemiology,166(9), 1068–1079.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brebels, L., De Cremer, D., & Sedikides, C. (2008). Retaliation as a response to procedural unfairness: A self-regulatory approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,95(6), 1511–1525. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012821.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, L. C., Carson, K. A., Williams, D. R., Allen, A., Jones, C. P., & Cooper, L. A. (2013). Association of race consciousness with the patient-physician relationship, medication adherence, and blood pressure in urban primary care patients. American Journal of Hypertension,26(11), 1346–1352. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpt116.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, T. L., Fraser, G. E., Beeson, W. L., Knutsen, S. F., Herring, R. P., Chan, J., et al. (2008). Cohort profile: The Adventist health study-2 (AHS-2). International Journal of Epidemiology,37(2), 260–265. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dym165.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). High blood pressure fact sheet Retrieved January 31, 2017 from http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_bloodpressure.htm.

  • Chae, D. H., Lincoln, K. D., & Jackson, J. S. (2011). Discrimination, attribution, and racial group identification: Implications for psychological distress among Black Americans in the National Survey of American Life (2001–2003). American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,81(4), 498–506.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Charlemagne-Badal, S. J., & Lee, J. W. (2016). Religious social support and hypertension among older North American Seventh-Day Adventists. Journal of Religion and Health,55(2), 709–728.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chatters, L. M., Bullard, K. M., Taylor, R. J., Woodward, A. T., Neighbors, H. W., & Jackson, J. S. (2008). Religious participation and DSM-IV disorders among older African Americans: findings from the National Survey of American Life. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry,16(12), 957–965.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., Bullard, K. M., & Jackson, J. S. (2009). Race and ethnic differences in religious involvement: African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites. Ethnic and Racial Studies,32(7), 1143–1163.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Couto, P. F., Goto, J. B., & Bastos, J. L. (2012). Blood pressure and interpersonal discrimination: Systematic review of epidemiologic studies. Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia,99(4), 956–963.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cromwell, J. B. (1997). Cultural discrimination: The reasonable accommodation of religion in the workplace. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal,10(2), 155–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuffee, Y. L., Hargraves, J. L., & Allison, J. (2012). Exploring the association between reported discrimination and hypertension among African Americans: A systematic review. Ethnicity and Disease,22(4), 422–431.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dolezsar, C. M., McGrath, J. J., Herzig, A. J., & Miller, S. B. (2014). Perceived racial discrimination and hypertension: A comprehensive systematic review. Health Psychology,33(1), 20–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033718.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, G. E. (2003). Diet, life expectancy, and chronic disease: Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists and other vegetarians. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, A. A., Christopher, G. E., & Xiaohe, X. (2014). Is it really religion? Comparing the main and stress-buffering effects of religious and secular civic engagement on psychological distress. Society and Mental Health,4(2), 111–128. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156869313520558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist. (n.d.). Living the Sabbath. Retrieved from https://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/living/the-sabbath/.

  • Geronimus, A. T., Hicken, M. T., Keene, D., & Bound, J. (2006). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among Blacks and Whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health,96(5), 826–833.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. W. (2009). Missing data analysis: Making it work in the real world. Annual Review of Psychology,60, 549–576.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greer, C. M. (2013). Black ethnics: Race, immigration, and the pursuit of the American dream. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffith, D. M., Johnson, J., Zhang, R., Neighbors, H. W., & Jackson, J. S. (2011). Ethnicity, nativity and the health of American Blacks. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved,22(1), 142–156. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2011.0011.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1995). Multivariate data analysis. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayward, R. D., & Krause, N. (2015). Religion and strategies for coping with racial discrimination among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. International Journal of Stress Management,22(1), 70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring, P., Montgomery, S., Yancey, A. K., Williams, D. R., & Fraser, G. (2004). Understanding the challenges in recruiting blacks to a longitudinal cohort study: The Adventist health study. Ethnicity and Disease,14(3), 423–430.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hixson, K. A., Gruchow, H. W., & Morgan, D. W. (1998). The relation between religiosity, selected health behaviors, and blood pressure among adult females. Preventive Medicine,27(4), 545–552. https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.1998.0321.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, C. J., & Zajacova, A. (2014). Education as “the great equalizer”: Health benefits for black and white adults. Social Science Quarterly,95(4), 1064–1085.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyers, L. L., & Hyers, C. (2008). Everyday discrimination experienced by conservative Christians at the secular university. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy,8(1), 113–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, H. G., Pargament, K. I., & Nielsen, J. (1998). Religious coping and health status in medically ill hospitalized older adults. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease,186(9), 513–521.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krause, N., Ironson, G., Pargament, K., & Hill, P. (2017). Neighborhood conditions, religious coping, and uncontrolled hypertension. Social Science Research,62, 161–174.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krieger, N. (2012). Methods for the scientific study of discrimination and health: An ecosocial approach. American Journal of Public Health,102(5), 936–944.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Krieger, N., & Sidney, S. (1996). Racial discrimination and blood pressure: The CARDIA study of young black and white adults. American Journal of Public Health,86(10), 1370–1378.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Krieger, N., Waterman, P. D., Kosheleva, A., Chen, J. T., Smith, K. W., Carney, D. R., et al. (2013). Racial discrimination & cardiovascular disease risk: My body my story study of 1005 US-born black and white community health center participants (US). PLoS One,8(10), e77174. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077174.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. W., Morton, K. R., Walters, J., Bellinger, D. L., Butler, T. L., Wilson, C., et al. (2008). Cohort profile: the biopsychosocial religion and health study (BRHS). International Journal of Epidemiology,38(6), 1470–1478.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, T. T., Cogburn, C. D., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Self-reported experiences of discrimination and health: Scientific advances, ongoing controversies, and emerging issues. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology,11, 407–440. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032814-112728.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, C. E., & Mamiya, L. H. (1990). The black church in the African American experience. Duke University Press.

  • McEwen, B. S., & Seeman, T. (1999). Protective and damaging effects of mediators of stress: Elaborating and testing the concepts of allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,896, 30–47.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council, a. C. o. P. (2004). Critical perspectives on racial and ethnic differences in health in late life. Washington DC: National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong, A. D., Williams, D. R., Nwizu, U., & Gruenewald, T. L. (2017). Everyday unfair treatment and multisystem biological dysregulation in African American adults. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology,23(1), 27–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000087.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pargament, K. I. (1999). Religious/spiritual coping. In F. Institute (Ed.), Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research: A report of the Fetzer Institute/National Institute on Aging Working Group (pp. 43–56). Kalamazoo, MI: Fetzer Institute/National Institute on Aging.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rong, X. L., & Brown, F. (2001). The effects of immigrant generation and ethnicity on educational attainment among young African and Caribbean Blacks in the United States. Harvard Educational Review,71(3), 536–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulz, A., Williams, D. R., Israel, B., Becker, A., Parker, E., James, S. A., et al. (2000). Unfair treatment, neighborhood effects, and mental health in the Detroit metropolitan area. Journal of Health and Social Behavior,41(3), 314–332.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seeman, T. E., Epel, E., Gruenewald, T., Karlamangla, A., & McEwen, B. S. (2010). Socio-economic differentials in peripheral biology: Cumulative allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1186(1), 223–239.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steffen, P., Hinderliter, A., Blumenthal, J., & Sherwood, A. (2001). Religious coping, ethnicity, and ambulatory blood pressure. Psychosomatic Medicine,63(4), 523–530.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sternthal, M. J., Slopen, N., & Williams, D. R. (2011). Racial disparities in health: How much does stress really matter? Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race,8(01), 95–113. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1742058x11000087.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tartaro, J., Luecken, L., & Gunn, H. (2005). Exploring heart and soul: Effects of religiosity/spirituality and gender on blood pressure and cortisol stress responses. Journal of Health Psychology,10(6), 753–766.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. J., & Chatters, L. M. (2010). Importance of religion and spirituality in the lives of African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites. The Journal of Negro Education,79, 280–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teteh, D., Lee, J., Montgomery, S., & Wilson, C. (2017). Validity of self-reported high blood pressure among black and white Seventh-Day Adventists. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research,7(7), 212–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters, M. C. (2009). Black identities: West Indian immigrant dreams and American realities. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., Haile, R., Gonzalez, H. M., Neighbors, H., Baser, R., & Jackson, J. S. (2007). The mental health of black Caribbean immigrants: Results from the National Survey of American Life. American Journal of Public Health,97(1), 52–59.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., & Jackson, J. S. (2000). Race/ethnicity and the 2000 census: recommendations for African American and other black populations in the United States. American Journal of Public Health,90(11), 1728–1730. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.90.11.1728.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., John, D. A., Oyserman, D., Sonnega, J., Mohammed, S. A., & Jackson, J. S. (2012). Research on discrimination and health: An exploratory study of unresolved conceptual and measurement issues. American Journal of Public Health,102(5), 975–978.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., Larson, D. B., Buckler, R. E., Heckmann, R. C., & Pyle, C. M. (1991). Religion and psychological distress in a community sample. Social Science and Medicine,32(11), 1257–1262.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., & Mohammed, S. A. (2009). Discrimination and racial disparities in health: Evidence and needed research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine,32(1), 20–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-008-9185-0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., Mohammed, S. A., Leavell, J., & Collins, C. (2010). Race, socioeconomic status, and health: complexities, ongoing challenges, and research opportunities. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1186(1), 69–101.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Workneh, L. (2016). This election has completely debunked the myth of a ‘post-racial’ America. Retrieved April 6, 2017 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-election-has-completely-debunked-the-myth-of-a-post-racial-america_us_5821e158e4b0d9ce6fbea7f8.

Download references

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (Biopsychosocial Religion and Health Study, Grant 1R01AG026348) and the National Cancer Institute for the parent study (Adventist Health Study 2, Grant 5R01CA094594).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, 11139 Anderson St, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, USA

    Dede Kossiwa Teteh DrPH, MPH, CHES & Jerry W. Lee PhD

  2. School of Behavioral Health, Loma Linda University, 11065 Campus Street, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, USA

    Susanne B. Montgomery MS, MPH, PhD

  3. Oakwood University, 7000 Adventist Blvd NW, Huntsville, AL, 35896, USA

    Colwick M. Wilson MA, PhD

Authors
  1. Dede Kossiwa Teteh DrPH, MPH, CHES
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jerry W. Lee PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susanne B. Montgomery MS, MPH, PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Colwick M. Wilson MA, PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

DT originated the research question and was responsible for the analysis of the data and writing up the study findings. JL is the principal investigator of the Biopsychosocial Religion and Health Study and contributed to the design, analysis, and interpretation of findings and critically reviewed drafts of the article. SM and CW advised, edited, and critically reviewed drafts of the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dede Kossiwa Teteh DrPH, MPH, CHES.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Ethical issues using the Belmont Report guidelines were considered for this study and an application was submitted to and approved by an Institutional Review Board.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Teteh, D.K., Lee, J.W., Montgomery, S.B. et al. Working Together with God: Religious Coping, Perceived Discrimination, and Hypertension. J Relig Health 59, 40–58 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00822-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00822-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation