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The Environmental Affordances Model. Note: The Environmental Affordances Model incorporates status-based stressors, coping, and mental and physical health.
Source publication
Crucial advances have been made in our knowledge of the social determinants of health and health behaviors. Existing research on health disparities, however, generally fails to address a known paradox in the literature: While blacks have higher risk of medical morbidity relative to non-Hispanic whites, blacks have lower rates of common stress-relat...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... is informed by psychology, sociology, and biology, and we propose that this framework promotes innovative research that moves beyond simply documenting social disparities in health and begins positing specific hypotheses about how these factors work in concert. Figure 2 illustrates our framework, and Table 1 includes important supporting information. ...
Context 2
... EA Model rests on three premises: (1) the contextual environment serves as both a source of constraints (or stress) and a source of affordances- here, affordances are defined as opportunities to alleviate stress (Gibson 1977); (2) Table 1. Postulates and Evidence for the Environmental Affordances Model (Paths Indicated in Figure 2). ...
Context 3
... Socially disadvantaged neighborhoods have higher incidence of stressors such as crime and exposure to violence, low social capital, high unemployment, and single-headed households (Sternthal, Figure 2, we believe that social structures and context increase exposure to chronic stress for socially disadvan- taged groups (Path 1). In addition to being a source of stress, environmental context is linked to the available range of health-related coping behaviors (Path 2). ...
Context 4
... three studies ( Jackson et al. 2010;Keyes et al. 2011;Mezuk et al. 2010) longitudinally examined the probability of onset of depressive disorder at follow-up predicted by stressful life events, self-regulatory health behaviors (i.e., smoking, excessive alcohol use, poor diet and/or obesity status to reflect poor nutrition and/or inac- tivity), and the interaction between stress and health behaviors. The goal of these studies was to investigate the interaction between stress and self-regulatory health behaviors on risk of depres- sion (Path 7 of Figure 2): A negative interaction would indicate that the risk of depression associ- ated with stress was mitigated among those who engaged in these self-regulatory health behaviors, while a positive interaction would indicate that the risk of depression associated with stress was exac- erbated among those who engaged in these behaviors. ...
Similar publications
Health disparities among sexual minority groups, particularly mental health disparities, are well-documented. Numerous studies have demonstrated heightened prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders among lesbian, gay, and bisexual groups as compared with heterosexuals. Some authors posit that these disparities are the result of the stress that...
Citations
... According to the environmental affordances (EA) model [9], an individual's environment can induce stress, but there are also affordances or stress-reducers which can be used as coping strategies. The EA model also asserts that all things (human and otherwise) typically move to engage in selfregulatory coping strategies that will immediately reduce psychological/physiological stress and that factors such as race/gender could influence behaviors [9]. ...
... According to the environmental affordances (EA) model [9], an individual's environment can induce stress, but there are also affordances or stress-reducers which can be used as coping strategies. The EA model also asserts that all things (human and otherwise) typically move to engage in selfregulatory coping strategies that will immediately reduce psychological/physiological stress and that factors such as race/gender could influence behaviors [9]. In theory, some Black women may cope with racial discrimination by engaging in maladaptive eating behaviors [10] For example, Black women who participated in an ecological momentary assessment study reported an increase in disordered eating behaviors following experiences with racial discrimination [5]. ...
... The relationship between eating behaviors and stress has been well researched [29][30][31]. These findings also align with the environmental affordances model [9], which links environmental stressors to self-regulatory behaviors, such as emotional eating-which could help mental health in the short-term, but ultimately could lead to poor physical and mental health outcomes long term [32]. It is also important to emphasize the potential intergenerational effects of emotional eating, specifically among mothers and daughters [33] and those with poor emotional regulation [32]. ...
Objective
Evidence suggests that racial discrimination causes stress among non-Hispanic Black women, and some Black women may cope with exposure to vicarious racial discrimination by engaging in maladaptive eating behaviors.
Methods
We examined eating behaviors among Black women ( N = 254) before and after Freddie Gray’s death while in police custody. Maladaptive eating behaviors were assessed using the three-factor eating questionnaire. Our independent variables included the following: (1) time period and (2) geographic proximity to the event. Three two-way analysis of covariance tests were conducted to assess potential effects of geographic proximity (close, distant), time period in relation to unrest (before, after unrest), and their interaction on emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, and cognitive restraint controlling for participant age.
Results
There was a statistically significant main effect of proximity to the unrest on emotional eating, F (1, 252) = 5.64, p = .018, and partial η2 = .022 such that women living in close geographic proximity to the unrest reported higher mean levels of emotional eating as compared to those living more distant to the unrest. There was also a borderline statistically significant interaction between geographic proximity and time period on cognitive restraint, F (1, 252) = 3.89, p = .050, and partial η2 = .015.
Conclusion
Our study found a relationship between vicarious racial discrimination and maladaptive eating behaviors among Black women. Future work should examine stress related to vicarious racial discrimination and maladaptive eating behaviors longitudinally.
... Indeed, racism has long structured the residential contexts and socioeconomic opportunities and attainment of Americans, leaving Black and Hispanic adults with substantially fewer resources than White adults to cope with tragedy and other forms of loss (Iceland, 2019;Massey & Denton, 1993;Phelan & Link, 2015;Williams & Collins, 2001). The environmental affordances model posits that, when faced with stressors, there will be group differences in the behaviors used to alleviate stress depending on what coping resources are available (Jackson & Knight, 2006;Mezuk et al., 2013). Previous research has found that Black and White adults have similar associations between bereavement and health outcomes, such as dementia, cardiometabolic conditions, and mortality (Donnelly et al., , 2022Lewis et al., 2021;Umberson et al., 2020). ...
The death of a family member is a stressful life event that undermines survivors’ health. However, most research in this area focuses on spousal deaths among older, white adults. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine the association between the death of a range of family members and obesity among diverse American adults aged 33–43. One-third of U.S. young adults report having experienced the death of one or more close family members, with Black adults experiencing these losses much more frequently than White or Hispanic adults. Results using logistic regression models show that the death of two or more family members is associated with higher odds of young adult obesity compared to those who have experienced no family member deaths by young adulthood. Further, findings suggest the relationship between the death of family members and obesity differs by race/ethnicity. The probability of obesity is uniformly around 50–55 percent for Black adults who experienced zero, one, or two or more family member deaths. Meanwhile, the probability of obesity among White adults is significantly higher for those who experienced two or more family member deaths compared to those who experienced zero or one death. In addition, we found no association between family member death and obesity among Hispanic adults, although statistical power is limited. All told, the findings point to family member death as a significant risk factor for obesity among young Americans.
... The constant presence of stressors, whether related to socioeconomic disparities, racial discrimination, or other systemic challenges, necessitates the development of resilience as a survival mechanism 78 . In this regard, African American adolescents may develop a heightened ability to navigate and cope with stress, which could mitigate the association between adversity and substance use 79 . Moreover, the concept of resilience in the face of adversity is deeply rooted in the socio-cultural context of African American communities 80 challenges due to social stratification, segregation, and systemic racism have shaped a collective resilience that is passed down through generations, fostering a sense of strength and determination. ...
Background: While adversities across domains of finance, race, family, and life may operate as risk factors for initiation of substance use in adolescents, the influence of these factors may vary across racial groups of youth. Unfortunately, the existing knowledge is minimal about racial differences in the types of adversities that may increase the risk of subsequent substance use initiation during the transition into adolescence. Aim: To compare racial groups for the effects of adversities across domains of finance, race, family, and life on subsequent substance use initiation among pre-adolescents transitioning into adolescence. Methods: In this longitudinal study, we analyzed data from 6003 non-Latino White and 1562 non-Latino African American 9-10-year-old children transitioning into adolescence. Data came from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Participants were followed for up to thirty-six months as they transitioned to adolescence. The independent variables were adversities related to the domains of finance, race, family, and life. The primary outcomes were time to first tobacco or marijuana use. Age, puberty, and gender were confounders. Cox regression models were used for data analysis. Results: For White youth, tobacco use was under influence of having two parents in the household (HR = .611; 95% CI = .419-.891), parental education (HR = .900; 95% CI = .833-.972), household income (HR = .899; 95% CI = .817-.990), racial stress (HR = 1.569; 95% CI = 1.206-2.039), and life stress (HR =1.098 ; 95% CI = 1.024-1.178) and marijuana use was under influence of neighborhood income (HR = .576; 95% CI = .332-.999) and financial stress (HR =4.273; 95% CI = 1.280-17.422). No adverse condition predicted tobacco or marijuana use of African American youth. Conclusion: The effects of adversities on substance use depend on race. While various types of adversities tend to increase subsequent initiation of tobacco and marijuana, such factors may be less influential for African American adolescents, who experience more of such adversities. What is common may become normal.
... Researchers speculate that non-Hispanic Blacks benefit from their social ties and coping strategies. For example, Weaver et al. concluded that stressors affect mental health of non-Hispanic Blacks to a lesser extent compared to non-Hispanic Whites (29). However, these assumptions lack empirical support, and reasons for racial/ethnic differences in past-year MDE remain unclear (30). ...
Background
Research focused on disparities related to mental health comorbidities, especially among emerging adults with diabetes, is limited. Identifying associated factors of disparities could inform policy decisions to make diabetes-related interdisciplinary care more accessible for vulnerable groups.
Method
Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2015-2019), we examined disparities in presence of major depressive episode (MDE) and suicidal ideation among emerging adults with diabetes. Survey design-adjusted bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used for statistical analyses.
Results
The study included 1,125 emerging adults (18-25 years old), with a history of type 1 diabetes (T1D) or type 2 diabetes (T2D). After controlling for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, we found lower odds of having past-year major MDE for non-Hispanic Black (AOR, 0.42, p=0.032) compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Females were 3.02 times more likely to have past-year MDE than males (AOR, 3.02, p=0.004). The odds of having past-year MDE were 1.96 times higher among individuals who identified as LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) (AOR, 1.96, P=0.038). There were no statistically significant disparities in suicidal ideation related to race/ethnicity, sex, education, and family income. However, individuals who identified as LGB had significantly higher likelihood of suicidal ideation than their heterosexual counterparts (AOR, 2.47, P=0.004).
Conclusion
Significant disparities related to MDE and suicidal ideation exist based on race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Integration of a mental health professional into the multidisciplinary diabetes care team is critical for effective management of comorbid mental health conditions in younger patients with diabetes.
... This paradox is not expected given the impacts of racism and social marginalization leading to chronic stressors. The Environmental Affordances Model offers one possible way of interpreting this paradox by describing how maladaptive coping behaviors can contribute to a "muting" effect of the impact of stress on mental health, despite the fact that maladaptive behaviors are associated with increased negative physical health outcomes (Jackson & Knight, 2006;Jackson, Knight, & Rafferty, 2010;Mezuk et al., 2013). ...
The aim of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand how older adults cope with experiences of ageism and racism through an intersectional lens. Twenty adults 60+ residing in the U.S. Mountain West who identified as Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), Asian-American/Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or White participated individually in a one-hour, semi-structured interview. A team of five coders engaged in an inductive coding process through independent coding followed by critical discussion. Peer debriefing enhanced credibility. Nine themes were organized by three umbrella categories: Coping with ageism: 1) distancing via self-determination/defying stereotypes, 2) distancing by helping others; Coping with racism: 3) resistance, 4) exhaustion; Coping with both ageism and racism: 5) increased awareness through aging, 6) healthy lifestyle, 7) education, 8) acceptance/ ‘let it go’, and 9) avoidance. Novel findings include how older adults may cope with ageism and racism via increased awareness through aging and with ageism specifically by helping peer older adults, although instances of internalized ageism were noted and discussed. The themes exemplify problem-focused (e.g., helping others) and emotion-focused (acceptance), as well as individual (e.g., self-determination) and collective (e.g., resistance) coping strategies. This study can serve as a resource for practitioners in applying a more nuanced understanding of the ways older adults cope with ageism and racism in later life.
... [37][38][39] Theories like the environmental affordances model can help explain how systemic inequities drive less optimal social determinants experienced by different racial/ethnic groups, contributing to poorer long-term physical and psychosocial well-being. 40 For example, Blacks often have less access to healthcare and are exposed to inadequate treatment. 12,41 These healthcare disparities may lead to development of comorbidities (eg, diabetes and obesity) that may contribute to pain interference. ...
... These experiences can be chronic, traumatic stressors that place additive burdens as a result of their race. 40 This may explain the interaction of age and race/ethnicity on pain severity and interference in our study. ...
... Nonetheless, in this study, other individual strategies that may contribute to changes in lifespan directly or indirectly by enriching the coping variability construct were not considered (e.g., religion, selfblame). Moreover, the sample size was somewhat too small to conduct a meaningful investigation of moderation effects by key sociodemographic factors, including race/ethnicity and marital status, or did not have systemic indicators, like residential income levels, which may shape capacities and opportunities to cope with stressors (Mezuk et al., 2013;Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). ...
... Health behaviors are typically conceptualized as potential confounders or mediators of the association between psychological factors and health outcomes (Cohen et al., 2016;Epel et al., 2018;Trudel-Fitzgerald et al. (in press)). Yet, considering health behaviors in the coping-lifespan association is complex because they can be regulatory processes themselves, whereby individuals may smoke or eat to handle stressors and related distress (Mezuk et al., 2013;O'Leary et al., 2018;Park & Iacocca, 2014;Trudel-Fitzgerald et al. (in press)). Given data availability and to insure they at least do not confound the coping-lifespan association, we examine their role by further adjusting for them in exploratory analyses. ...
... Limited research, mostly cross-sectional or experimental in design, has also indicated that regulatory processes like coping are associated with certain behavioral factors, especially for strategies deemed maladaptive (Doron et al., 2015;Taut et al., 2012). Because health behaviors can be regulatory processes themselves (Mezuk et al., 2013;O'Leary et al., 2018;Park & Iacocca, 2014), the current results may imply that individuals who use religious coping strategies to handle challenges are less likely to smoke to handle stressors and in turn, live longer than their less religious and smoker counterparts. Yet, future studies that evaluate specifically whether individuals are using cigarettes, alcohol consumption, unhealthy foods, or physical activity as means of coping with stressors will help determine to what extent these behavioral strategies explain the coping-lifespan association. ...
Objectives:
Associations of stress-related coping strategies with lifespan among the general population are understudied. Coping strategies are characterized as being either adaptive or maladaptive, but it is unknown the degree to which variability in tailoring their implementation to different contexts may influence lifespan.
Method:
Women (N = 54,353; Mage = 47) completed a validated coping inventory and reported covariate information in 2001. Eight individual coping strategies (e.g., Acceptance, Denial) were considered separately. Using a standard deviation-based algorithm, participants were also classified as having lower, moderate, or greater variability in their use of these strategies. Deaths were ascertained until 2019. Accelerated failure time models estimated percent changes and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in predicted lifespan associated with coping predictors.
Results:
In multivariable models, most adaptive and maladaptive strategies were associated with longer and shorter lifespans, respectively (e.g., per 1-SD increase: Active Coping = 4.09%, 95%CI = 1.83%, 6.41%; Behavioral Disengagement = -6.56%, 95%CI = -8.37%, -4.72%). Moderate and greater (versus lower) variability levels were similarly and significantly related to 8-10% longer lifespans. Associations were similar across age, racial/ethnic, residential income, and marital status subgroups.
Conclusions:
Findings confirm the adaptive and maladaptive nature of specific coping strategies, and further suggest benefits from both moderate and greater variability in their use for lifespan among women.
... Theoretical frameworks also suggest that the selection and implementation of strategies may differ across subpopulations. For instance, the Environmental Affordances Model posits that certain racial/ethnic disparities in mental health are shaped by the exposure to specific stressors (e.g., discrimination) and the adoption of certain regulatory strategies (e.g., alcohol intake), which both have as an upstream predictor the broader socio-environment (e.g., segregation) (Mezuk et al., 2013). Relatedly, scales capturing coping in the face of stress-related racial/gender disparities have been created, such as the John Henryism Active Coping Scale (James, 1994;James et al., 1983) and the Giscombe Superwoman Schema Questionnaire Schema (Woods-Giscombe et al., 2019). ...
... Secondly, health behaviors used as ways to cope with stressors/regulate emotions are embedded in several intensive longitudinal assessments but rarely in validated scales. Theoretical and empirical evidence on substance use and eating behaviors acknowledge that individuals may first engage in these habits to feel better and maintain them over time to alleviate distress (Mezuk et al., 2013;O'Leary et al., 2018;Schatten et al., 2020). While documenting if one copes or regulates emotions with substance use, food intake, or exercise in a moment-to-moment approach is highly valuable, knowing if they do so in a dispositional manner would also be informative. ...
The fields of coping and emotion regulation have mostly evolved separately over decades, although considerable overlap exists. Despite increasing efforts to unite them from a conceptual standpoint, it remains unclear whether conceptual similarities translate into their measurement. The main objective of this review was to summarize and compare self-reported measures of coping and emotion regulation strategies. The secondary objective was to examine whether other psychological measures (e.g., resilience) indirectly reflect regulatory strategies' effectiveness, thus representing additionally informative approaches. Results indicated substantial overlap between coping and emotion regulation measures. In both frameworks, two to eight individual strategies were usually captured, but only a third included ≤20 items. Most commonly evaluated strategies were reappraisal/reinterpretation, active coping/problem-solving, acceptance, avoidance, and suppression. Evidence also suggested psychological distress and well-being measures, especially in certain contexts like natural stress experiments, and resilience measures are possible indirect assessments of these regulatory strategies' effectiveness. These results are interpreted in the light of a broader, integrative affect regulation framework and a conceptual model connecting coping, emotion regulation, resilience, psychological well-being and psychological distress is introduced. We further discussed the importance of alignment between individuals, contexts, and strategies used, and provide directions for future research. Altogether, coping and emotion regulation measures meaningfully overlap. Joint consideration of both frameworks in future research would widen the repertoire of available measures and orient their selection based on other aspects like length or strategies covered, rather than the framework only.
... Patterns of specific tobacco and cannabis use and co-use may present unique health consequences over time [15,41]. However, mental health problems are generally associated with any substance use, and how these relationships vary by key groups, such as race and ethnicity, are driven by differences in place, access, and economic and psychosocial resources [42]. This idea is akin to the common liability theory, which focuses less on the order by which substances are used across a developmental trajectory and more on understanding underlying latent factors that make some people "liable" to using multiple substances [43]. ...
Mental health problems in emerging adulthood are linked to tobacco and cannabis use, but whether race and ethnicity modifies these associations is unclear.
We used data from wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (youth n = 6898, young adult n = 10,304) to conduct latent class analysis (LCA) of six past 30-day tobacco and cannabis use indicators (i.e., cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), cigars, blunts, cannabis vaping, other cannabis). We estimated associations between past 30-day internalizing and externalizing (i.e., low (referent), moderate, high) problems and latent classes of tobacco/cannabis use (vs. never/former use) using adjusted multinomial logistic regression. We explored whether associations varied by race and ethnicity through stratification.
We identified four exclusive use latent classes and two dual/poly use latent classes for both youth and young adult samples. Race/ethnicity-stratified models identified associations between internalizing/externalizing problems and most use classes for Hispanic and non-Hispanic White youth/young adults, with mixed results for non-Hispanic Black youth/young adults. For example, Hispanic (OR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.09–5.74) and non-Hispanic White (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.18–3.06) youth with high internalizing problems had higher odds of ENDS + cannabis vaping. Externalizing problems were not associated with use among non-Hispanic Black youth while internalizing problems were not associated with use among non-Hispanic Black young adults.
We observed racial/ethnic variation in mental health problems and tobacco and cannabis use. Understanding mental health problem and tobacco product and cannabis use comorbidity may better inform culturally relevant interventions aimed to prevent and reduce use.
... Bivariate correlations, t-tests, and analyses of variance were calculated to examine potential sociodemographic and health control variables. Sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, and disability can differentially position Black young adult women to experience stress and its health consequences (Jackson et al., 2010;Mezuk et al., 2013). Therefore, we examined the following self-reported sociodemographic covariates in our analysis: Age (i.e., entered number), gender identity (i.e., cisgender female, transgender female/trans woman/male-to-female, nonbinary), Black ethnicity (i.e., African American, Caribbean Black, Afro-Latinx, African, or Multiracial), disability (i.e., diagnosed with disability or impairment; no/yes), student status (i.e., currently a student; no/yes), education (i.e., highest level of education completed by parents; categorical), income (i.e., total annual household income; categorical), and region of the United States. ...
Black young adult women's stress experiences are shaped by intersecting racism and sexism. To respond to this stress, some Black young adult women engage in emotional eating, which may threaten their health. Yet processes in the association between gendered racial microaggressions and emotional eating for Black young adult women remain unclear. In the current study, we used cross-sectional online survey data from a 2021 national investigation of 504 United States Black young adult (18–35 years old) women (98.4% cisgender) to test if the superwoman schema and self-compassion mediated the link between gendered racial microaggressions and emotional eating. Employing a serial mediation model in which we controlled for sociodemographic and health covariates, we found support for the hypothesized mediation: more gendered racial microaggressions were associated with greater endorsement of the superwoman schema; greater endorsement of the superwoman schema was associated with less self-compassion; and less self-compassion was associated with more emotional eating. Results provide cross-sectional evidence of theorized processes between gendered racial microaggressions and emotional eating for Black young adult women and point to self-compassion as one potentially important component of health behavior interventions to reduce emotional eating for Black young adult women who take on a superwoman role.
