Department of Social Work and Human Services, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Ethn Dis. 2012 Spring;22(2):185-91.
African American women continue to have the highest prevalence of obesity in the United States and in the state of Maryland they are disproportionately affected by overweight and obesity. There are many contributing factors including chronic stress and the use of health behaviors such as physical exercise that play a role in increased weight for African American women. We examined the relationship of stress to weight and the role of physical exercise in African American paraprofessional women.
Cross-sectional study
African American paraprofessionals were asked about their perspectives regarding association with chronic stress and physical exercise.
The three most salient stressors for the women were finances (33%), work (28%) and family/friends (19%). Ninety percent of the women were overweight or obese. Significant predictors of increased BMI were lack of physical exercise (P = .004) and health compared to others (P = .006). Ethnic discrimination was a form of chronic stress (r = .319) but was not correlated with BMI (r = .095). Decreased physical exercise (P = .02) mediated the relationship between chronic stress and BMI.
Findings regarding finance and work stress suggest the need for employers to consider the impact of job strain when implementing employee health programs to decrease stress and improve health. A focus on decreased physical exercise, unhealthy eating habits and misperceptions regarding increased risk for obesity related diseases with health status may be helpful to include in intervention strategies to decrease obesity for this population.
非裔美国女性仍然是美国和马里兰州肥胖率最高的人群，她们不成比例地受到超重和肥胖的影响。有许多促成因素，包括慢性压力和使用健康行为，如体育锻炼，这些因素在非裔美国女性体重增加中发挥作用。我们研究了压力与体重的关系以及体育锻炼在非裔美国准专业女性中的作用。
横断面研究
非裔美国准专业人员被问及他们对与慢性压力和体育锻炼相关的看法。
女性面临的三个最突出的压力源是财务（33%）、工作（28%）和家庭/朋友（19%）。90%的女性超重或肥胖。BMI 增加的显著预测因素是缺乏体育锻炼（P =.004）和与他人相比的健康状况（P =.006）。种族歧视是一种慢性压力（r =.319），但与 BMI 无关（r =.095）。体育锻炼减少（P =.02）介导了慢性压力和 BMI 之间的关系。
关于财务和工作压力的发现表明，雇主在实施员工健康计划以减轻压力和改善健康状况时，需要考虑工作压力的影响。关注减少体育锻炼、不良饮食习惯以及对与健康状况相关的肥胖相关疾病风险增加的误解，可能有助于纳入干预策略，以减少这一人群的肥胖。
