Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2022 Feb 3;77(2):e56-e64. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glab280.
John Henryism (JH) is a form of active high-effort coping. Low-socioeconomic status (SES) African Americans adopting JH to deal with structural racism and other chronic stressors might be more likely to display cardiovascular disease risk factors. Previous tests of this hypothesis have mostly focused on the moderating role of current SES and hypertension as the outcome variable. Furthermore, most of the previous work has been conducted among young and middle-aged adults. This study aimed at extending work on the JH hypothesis by testing the combined effect of JH and childhood SES on metabolic syndrome and systemic inflammation among African American older adults.
One hundred seventy urban African American older adults (Mage = 67.64 years, 75.9% female) were recruited. Participants completed questionnaires assessing JH, childhood SES, and other variables used as covariates (ie, demographic information, chronic conditions, medication use, and health behaviors). Blood pressure, waist circumference, and blood were also collected. Triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hemoglobin A1C, and C-reactive protein levels were measured from the blood samples.
JH was positively associated with metabolic syndrome symptoms among participants reporting low childhood SES levels, but not among those reporting high childhood SES levels. The same pattern did not emerge when we considered current SES. Similar patterns of results did not emerge as far as systemic inflammation was concerned.
Our findings highlight the importance of considering the joint impact of objective conditions early in life and individual psychological proclivities in explaining increased risk for cardiovascular disease risk in this population.
约翰·亨利主义（JH）是一种积极的高努力应对方式。采用 JH 来应对结构性种族主义和其他慢性压力源的低社会经济地位（SES）非裔美国人可能更容易表现出心血管疾病的危险因素。以前对这一假设的检验主要集中在当前 SES 的调节作用和高血压作为因变量。此外，之前的大部分研究都是在年轻和中年成年人中进行的。本研究旨在通过测试 JH 和童年 SES 对非裔美国老年人代谢综合征和全身炎症的综合影响，扩展 JH 假设的研究工作。
共招募了 170 名城市非裔美国老年人（平均年龄=67.64 岁，75.9%为女性）。参与者完成了评估 JH、童年 SES 和其他用作协变量的变量（即人口统计学信息、慢性疾病、药物使用和健康行为）的问卷。还收集了血压、腰围和血液样本。从血液样本中测量了甘油三酯、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇、血红蛋白 A1C 和 C-反应蛋白水平。
在报告低童年 SES 水平的参与者中，JH 与代谢综合征症状呈正相关，但在报告高童年 SES 水平的参与者中则不然。当我们考虑当前 SES 时，没有出现相同的模式。就全身炎症而言，没有出现类似的结果模式。
我们的研究结果强调了在解释该人群心血管疾病风险增加时，考虑生命早期客观条件和个体心理倾向的综合影响的重要性。
