Citation
Bruefach, Tyler (2022). Association between Resilience and Physical Health across Intersections of Race and Gender. 2022 Add Health Users Conference. Chapel Hill, NC.Abstract
The current study examines race and gender differences in the associations between psychological resilience and physical health across early adulthood. Scholarship on resilience typically examines how people recognize adverse (unfavorable) circumstances, perceive actions that could be taken, and activate resources to resolve them within structured social conditions. A growing body of research conceptualizes psychological resilience (hereafter “resilience”) as a measure of one’s capacity for handling adversity in ways that foster health and well-being. Though this literature finds that resilience is a robust predictor of physical health, most supportive evidence is concentrated among older adults. Previous research also suggests that sources of discrimination (racism and sexism) and racialized/gendered health behaviors intersect in ways that condition the health-benefits associated with psychosocial resources. I extend current research on psychological resilience by examining how it shapes young adults’ physical health and how these relationships might vary across racial and gender groups.Methods: Analyses draw on individual-level and biomarker data from waves 1, 4, and 5 of Add Health to examine longitudinal associations between resilience and physical health among young adults. Due to sample size limitations, I restrict analyses to respondents identifying as non-Hispanic White (“White”), non-Hispanic Black (“Black”), and Hispanic/Latinx. Resilience is measured using the Add Health Resilience Scale (AHRS), a
retrospectively constructed measure based on respondents’ responses to psychological and personality items at wave 4. I use respondents’ sex assigned at birth (male; female) to gauge gendered processes. Ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression is used to model two measures of physical health: self-rated health and allostatic load. To estimate potential differences in the relationships between resilience and physical health at Wave
5, I examine marginal effects based on 3-way interactions between race, gender, and resilience. Control measures include wave 4 physical health and wave 5 measures of age, educational attainment, income, paid work, and marital status.
Findings: Analyses show that resilience is associated with physical health across early adulthood and that these relationships vary across health measures, race, and gender. Resilience is associated with self-rated health among White respondents and Hispanic/Latinx women, but not among Black respondents and Hispanic/Latinx men. Resilience was associated with allostatic load for fewer respondents; it was only associated with lower
allostatic load for White women, though marginally significant results (p = 0.075) imply that Black men could also benefit. Future research can advance current understanding of resilience by employing intersectional methodologies and examining the underlying processes that shape the
health-benefits associated with resilience.