Predictors of depression in a sample of African-American homeless men: identifying effective coping strategies given varying levels of daily stressors.
In a sample of African-American, homeless or insecurely sheltered men, the occurrence of discrete stressors in the prior week contributed to the experience of depressive symptoms among this generally stressed population. Reliance on active, problem-focused coping strategies as opposed to emotion-coping strategies was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms contradicting the hypothesis that active coping is counter-productive for African-American men. However, depressive symptoms increased, with added uncontrollable stress, even for active copers, contradicting a stress-buffering hypothesis. Under conditions of high uncontrollable stress, problem-focused coping was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms than emotion-focused coping, however, additional discrete stressors exerted less impact on the level of depressive symptoms among the emotion-focused copers than the active, problem-focused copers.
Littrell
J
J
Georgia State University, USA.
Beck
E
E
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000145:classification*; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D004644:Emotions; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving; D012494:Sampling Studies; D020377:Self Efficacy