Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-8-2024 11:00 AM
End Date
5-8-2024 1:00 PM
Subjects
Activism, Stress (Psychology), Black women
Advisor
Dr. Taylor Geyton
Student Level
Undergraduate
Abstract
Black women often shoulder a heavier burden of financial, social, and physical responsibilities within their families compared to non-Black individuals who do not identify as women. This increased load contributes significantly to mental health disorders and psychological distress and well as physical disparities. When compounded with experiences of racism and sexism, these responsibilities can lead to a sense of social invisibility and foster a tendency towards stoicism. This study is a mixed method study as it aims to quantitatively examine the relationship between activism, physical wellbeing measured by the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA), and psychological wellbeing among Black women activists (n=40). Moreover, it aims to gain a qualitative understanding of Black women activists' perceptions and experiences related to activism and its impact on mental and physical wellbeing. The ongoing study presents preliminary findings from the analysis of survey responses. Among the participants (n=49), the average age is 39.9 years, with a majority residing in urban areas (n=13) compared to suburban (n=12) or rural (n=4) areas. The demographic distribution emphasizes the significance of environmental factors in assessing stress's impact on immune responses. Varying exposure to adversity can lead to diverse immune response levels, reflecting the complex interplay between environmental influences and stress outcomes. Additionally, the presence of substance use among participants is a crucial factor for data analysis. These findings underscore the importance of considering baseline differences, as individuals' starting points can influence their responses despite similar activisms. Overall, this study hypothesizes a significant positive linear relationship between biological stress (CTRA) and activism when controlling for psychological well-being, a significant negative linear relationship between CTRA and psychological well-being when controlling for activism, and a significant positive linear relationship between activism and psychological well-being when controlling for CTRA.
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41767
Activism and Stress
Black women often shoulder a heavier burden of financial, social, and physical responsibilities within their families compared to non-Black individuals who do not identify as women. This increased load contributes significantly to mental health disorders and psychological distress and well as physical disparities. When compounded with experiences of racism and sexism, these responsibilities can lead to a sense of social invisibility and foster a tendency towards stoicism. This study is a mixed method study as it aims to quantitatively examine the relationship between activism, physical wellbeing measured by the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA), and psychological wellbeing among Black women activists (n=40). Moreover, it aims to gain a qualitative understanding of Black women activists' perceptions and experiences related to activism and its impact on mental and physical wellbeing. The ongoing study presents preliminary findings from the analysis of survey responses. Among the participants (n=49), the average age is 39.9 years, with a majority residing in urban areas (n=13) compared to suburban (n=12) or rural (n=4) areas. The demographic distribution emphasizes the significance of environmental factors in assessing stress's impact on immune responses. Varying exposure to adversity can lead to diverse immune response levels, reflecting the complex interplay between environmental influences and stress outcomes. Additionally, the presence of substance use among participants is a crucial factor for data analysis. These findings underscore the importance of considering baseline differences, as individuals' starting points can influence their responses despite similar activisms. Overall, this study hypothesizes a significant positive linear relationship between biological stress (CTRA) and activism when controlling for psychological well-being, a significant negative linear relationship between CTRA and psychological well-being when controlling for activism, and a significant positive linear relationship between activism and psychological well-being when controlling for CTRA.