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Life Stress Buffer: The Salubrious Role of African-Centered Spirituality

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Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Contemporary life is challenging enough for most of us with interminable to-do lists, multitasking, long work days and commutes, and struggles to meet simple goals like assembling the family for a traditional dinner around the kitchen table. But for a large proportion of the African American population, the simple stress of living is often magnified. Additional factors of entrenched poverty, chronic disease, juvenile crime and societal prejudice raise questions of how people cope under such circumstances. Many African Americans find that the negative consequences of blatant prejudice ultimately manifest in issues of mental and physical well-being (Carter 1994; Landrine and Klonoff 1996). People cope with life stress and transitions in the lifespan in myriad ways, but for many people identified with African American culture, a primary resource is an African-centered spiritual base.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Evangeline A. Wheeler

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  1. Evangeline A. Wheeler
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Correspondence to Evangeline A. Wheeler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Saxon Drive 3237, Lexington, 40503-3428, U.S.A.

    Thomas W. Miller

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Wheeler, E.A. (2010). Life Stress Buffer: The Salubrious Role of African-Centered Spirituality. In: Miller, T. (eds) Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0748-6_26

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