Poster #69 - The Association between John Henryism and Rumination: The Moderating Role of SES and Subjective Social Status

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Introduction: John Henryism (JH) is an active coping response to stressful situations (Cuffee et al., 2020). Socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with JH such that low SES individuals who actively cope with psychosocial stressors are more likely to exhibit worse psychological functioning compared to those with better SES resources (Bennett et al., 2004). Subjective social status (SSS) has been found to have a more stable and stronger positive association with psychological functioning compared to SES (Jin & Tam, 2013). Ruminative responses often lead to emotional distress (Sansone & Sansone, 2012) therefore identifying factors that reduce these behaviors would be beneficial among people of color. The study aims to address the following research questions: 1. How is JH associated with ruminative responses among young adults of color? 2. Does SES and SSS moderate the association between JH and ruminative responses among young adults of color? It is hypothesized that JH will be associated with lower levels of ruminative responses. It is also hypothesized that the association between JH and ruminative responses will depend upon both SES and SSS indicators.

Method: Participants were 123 Hispanic and Black college students (Mean age = 20.11; 48% Asians, 13.8% Blacks, 38.2% Hispanics; 70.7% female; 26% first-year students, 17.1% second-year students, 10.6% third-year students, 12.2% four-year students) who were recruited from a private four-year university in the Northeast US. Data were collected as part of a larger research study examining discrimination and psychological well-being. The data were collected in person as participants reported on annual household income (M = $77,000, SD = 1.95) and parental education attainment (M= some college, SD = 1.32). Participants also completed the MacArthur Scale Of Subjective Social Status (Adler et al., 2000) (M = 4.5, SD = 1.77, α = .83), the John Henryism Scale (James et al., 1983) (M = 44.59, SD = 6.07, α = .75), and the Ruminative Responses Scale (Treynor et al., 2003) (M = 2.57, SD = .72, α = .80).

Results: Regression analysis indicated that JH predicted lower levels of ruminative responses (b = -0.04, p < .001). The interaction between JH and SSS was also significant (b = -0.15, p = .02). Simple slope analysis (Figure 1) indicated that this association was strengthened at moderate (b = -0.47, p < .001) and high levels (b = -.72, p < .001) of subjective social status, but not at lower levels (b = -0.22, p = .17).

Implications: This study extends the literature on the association between JH and well-being among young adults while considering SSS. The results showed that JH was negatively associated with RR for individuals who reported moderate and high levels of subjective social status. Group membership plays an important role in how individuals evaluate themselves in comparison to others (Leach & Smith, 2006). JH coping strategies may be beneficial in reducing behaviors that lead to psychological distress, such as rumination, when one perceives themselves to be more opulent than others in their ethnic group.

Authors

• Shadane Ariel Johnson, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Jiwoon Bae, Fordham University

• Ariel Tseng, Fordham University

• Tiffany Yip, Fordham University