Coping With Perceived Racism: A Significant Factor in the Development of Obesity in African American Women?

Background: African American women have the highest rates of obesity in the United States. The prevalence of obesity in this group calls for the identification of psychosocial factors that increase risk. Psychological stress has been associated with obesity in women; however, there is scant literature that has explored the impact of racism on body mass index (BMI) in African American women. Objective: The current study aimed to determine whether emotional responses and behavioral coping responses to perceived racism were associated with BMI in African American women. Methods: A sample of 110 African American women participated in a community-based study. Height and weight measurements were taken to calculate BMI and participants completed the Perceived Racism Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated a significant relationship between BMI and behavioral coping responses to perceived racism. Findings for emotional responses to perceived racism and appraisal of one's daily life as stressful were nonsignificant. Mean comparisons of BMI groups showed that obese African American women used more behavioral coping responses to perceived racism as compared to normal-weight and overweight women in the sample. Conclusion: Findings suggest that behavioral coping responses better explained increased risk for obesity in African American women. A biobehavioral pathway may explain this finding with a stress-response process that includes cortisol reactivity. Maladaptive behavioral coping responses may also provide insight into obesity risk. Future research is needed to determine which behavioral coping responses place African American women at greater risk for obesity.