Latoya S Stewart
. John S Carlson
Stress is the assessment of the relationship between an individual and his or her environment as being taxing and detrimental to his or her well-being. Stressful events may be external or internal to the individual. Examples of external stressful events include death, and poverty; and examples of internal stressful events include anxiety about one’s health or unexpressed anger toward a specific person.
Two important factors that mediate this relationship
between the individual and environment include:
(1) the perceived level of stress in a particular
situation; and
(2) the perceived ability to cope with the situation.
Culture may be defined as the customary practices and language associated with a
particular racial/ethnic group of people or the social beliefs and values that
are the
basis for one’s perception of the world.
Human beings’ physical, survival, and psychological needs
are met by
cultures. Also, there are differences among cultures because each culture
is based on unique environments where differences in history, political
systems, religious and
philosophical beliefs impact individual coping mechanisms.
Generally speaking, culture affects behavioral processes and is therefore
very important to the understanding
of the perception of stress and/or stressors.
In a sample of 333 adolescents, De Anda and colleagues found that the most
frequent stressors associated with students of different racial/ethnic
backgrounds included concerns about future goals or plans, personal expectations about
career, school assignments and performance, emotional and/or interpersonal issues
such as disagreements
with parents, and the expression of emotional feelings.
School-related stress that involves difficulty of school
assignments and level of academic performance is most often associated with the dominant
culture. Frequently,
higher levels of stress are related to family issues (e.g., pressure from parents). Students
of color
are more likely to experience economic stress (e.g., lack of food and/or clothing),
stress related to the death of a parent or sibling, and issues related to
identity, language,
academic objectives, individual goals, family differences, generational
differences, and acculturative stress.
Acculturative Stress
Acculturation may be defined as changes and adaptation in behaviors that occur as a result of two or more cultures coming into continuous contact. Individuals exposed to such changes may be psychologically affected. For instance, when an individual experiences conflictual acculturation, a possible detrimental outcome may result in interconnected triadic changes- behavioral, acculturative stress, and psychopathology.
Behavioral changes that allow individuals to assimilate in the dominant culture normally
occur very easily and usually occur with little or no conflicts.
Acculturative stress
occurs when the behavioral changes are problematic and result in high levels of
conflict. These changes are normally viewed as problematic because they
interfere with the individual’s understanding of his or her own culture.
Therefore, a stress reaction to situations that are related to
acculturation is known as acculturative stress. Psychopathology may occur when
individuals need professional help to deal with the behavioral changes that are perceived as
problematic.
People of color may experience the following acculturative
stressors: racism, discrimination, feelings of inferiority due to minority
status, language stress, feelings of rejection because of one’s ethnic group,
and intergenerational
gap (individuals of different generation).
With regard to racism, feelings of inferiority and rejection, some African
American students may experience higher levels of stress because they are more
aware of
and focused on racial issues and racial oppression. On the other hand, those
African American students who are comfortable with their racial identity
experience lower levels of acculturative stress.
Research has shown that language-related issues are the most frequent
culture-specific stressor among Latinos in the United States (U.S.). Latino students
who are born in the U.S.
experience more stress than immigrants as a result of not being able to fluently
speak Spanish, and
feeling that their parents’ culture prevents them from completely adapting to the dominant
American culture. On the other hand, immigrant Latino students experience
higher levels of stress as a result of speaking poor English. Such students tend to
perform at lower levels
because of their lack of confidence associated with poor English.
Stressors that are rooted in acculturation may be associated with mental
health issues among
youth of color and higher levels of depression. Therefore, researchers and practitioners
need to have greater
understanding of the effects of acculturation to better understand its influence on
mental health outcomes
among youth of color.
Stress and Coping
How one copes with stressful events plays an important role in the level of stress experienced and one’s psychological health. Coping with stress may be defined as the reduction of the discrepancy between the demands of stress and the capacity to deal with it.
Efficient coping that results in a balance between the demands of stress and the
capacity to deal with it decreases the state of
stress, while inefficient coping leads to an increased level of stress. Two main
strategies of
coping with stress are adaptive and maladaptive coping.
Adaptive strategies include relaxation, distraction,
cognitive control (i.e., making a conscious effort to have positive thoughts) and
help-seeking behaviors. Maladaptive strategies include withdrawal, aggressive
behavior, suicide and
substance abuse. Frequent adaptive coping strategies include relaxation,
distraction (e.g.,
watching TV, listening to music) and help-seeking. Frequent maladaptive
strategies include withdrawal and aggressive behavior. It is important to note
that students who
experience high levels of stress are more likely to use maladaptive strategies than those
who experience low
levels of stress.
Mental health professionals can develop interventions that
improve students’ use of adaptive coping by teaching them
effective relaxation methods and increasing the selection of adaptive coping
strategies. With
regard to students who employ maladaptive coping, interventions can aim to
change their beliefs about the effectiveness of such coping.
Awareness of age-appropriate
coping strategies is important for those working with children and adolescents. Stressors that directly or indirectly relate to the school environment are
frequently reported in the literature. This indicates that schools may be one
of the most
appropriate environments for stress-related interventions.
Suggested Reading
De Anda, D., Baroni, S., Boskin, L., Buchwald, L., Morgan, J., Ow, J., Gold, J. S., & Weiss, R. (2000). Stress, stressors and coping among high school students. Children and Youth Services Review, 22, 441–463.Kilmer, R. P., Cowen, E. L., Wyman, P. A., Work, W. C., & Magnus, K. B. (1998). Differences in stressors experienced by urban African American, White, and Hispanic children. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 415–428.
Spielberger, C. D., Sarason, I. G., Brebner, J. M., Greenglass, E., Laungani, P., & O’Roark, A. M. (1995). Stress and emotions: Anxiety, anger, and curiosity. Washington D.C.: Taylor & Francis. Wong, P. T. P., & Wong, L. C. J. (2006). Handbook on multicultural perspective on stress and coping. Dallas, TX: Spring Publications.
Suggested Resources
http://www.byestress.com—This website discusses the symptoms, causes and effects of stress as well as coping techniques.References
C. S. Clauss-Ehlers (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural
School Psychology, DOI
10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9, Springer
Science+Business Media LLC 2010
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