Using Focus Groups to Explore the Stressful Life Events of Black College Men

Journal of College Student Development, Jan/Feb 2007 by Watkins, Daphne C, Green, B Lee, Goodson, Patricia, Guidry, Jeff, Stanley, Christine

Black students who attend predominately White institutions (PWI) face many obstacles. This study identified the stressful life events of Black college men via focus group discussions and examined how these events impact their mental health and health behaviors. Forty-six participants from a PWI and a historically Black college/university (HBCU) affirmed that they experience similar encounters with stressful life events, but participants at the PWI reported that their major stressors were the result of "school-related" events, while participants at the HBCU reported stressors that were not school-related. Findings from this study present implications for future health promotion programs that target Black college men.

A February 2005 article in USA Today ("Black men fall behind") reported that from 2000 to 2001, the number of Black men in higher education rose by 30,000. During the same time the number of Black women in college rose by 73,000 suggesting that the gain was twice as large for Black women than Black men. From 2001 to 2002, the increase in the number of degrees (associate's, bachelor's or master's) earned by Black men was less than 3%, whereas the number of Black women earning associate's degrees rose by 6.5%, bachelor's by 4.3% and master's 4.5% ("Black men fall behind," 2005). Furthermore, the Justice Policy Institute found that Black men in their early 30s were nearly twice as likely to have prison records than bachelor's degrees (Western, Schiraldi, & Ziedenberg, 2003). These figures illustrate that although a number of Black men and women attend college, there is still a disparity between the two groups regarding matriculation and graduation rates. An increasing literature identifies the stressful events of college life as the reason for why more Black men chose to leave college or not attend (Cureton, 2003; Lett & Wright, 2003; Rowser, 1997). Whether defined in terms of life events or in terms of minor daily hassles, stress has disruptive effects on psychological well-being and functioning and can adversely affect Black college men. In fact, the transition to adulthood for Blacks may be associated with a heightened awareness of restricted opportunities that may lead to increased levels of stress in early adulthood and maladaptive patterns of coping (Williams, 2003).

The cultural, social, and academic experiences of Black undergraduate students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominately White institutions (PWIs) have been compared by several authors (Bohr, Pascarella, Nora, & Terenzini, 1995; Cheatham, Slaney, & Coleman, 1990; Cokley, 1999; DeSousa & Kuh, 1996; Fleming, 1984; Flowers & Pascarella, 1999). For example, early research affirmed that more Black students at HBCUs felt an increased sense of connectedness, power, and affiliation at HBCUs than at PWIs (Fleming). DeSousa and Kuh found that Black students at HBCUs devoted more effort to academic activities; experienced more significant gains in intellectual development, critical thinking, and cultural awareness; and enjoyed greater personal and social benefits than those at PWIs. Likewise, a study by Berger and Milem (2000) found that students who attended HBCUs offered significantly higher self-ratings in three domains of self-concept-psychosocial wellness, academic self-efficacy, and achievement orientation-than Black students attending PWIs. In a more recent study, Harper Carini, Bridges, and Hayek (2004) found that despite their limited financial resources, HBCUs offer better learning environments and support mechanisms for Black undergraduates and greatly influence positive Black student outcomes. In order to gain a better understanding about the experiences of Black college students at HBCUs and PWIs social scientists must understand these experiences in the context of their mental health and health behaviors.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1999) defines "mental health" as the successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity. Individuals who maintain their mental health find ways to acknowledge and positively cope with the stressors in their lives. Stressors are demands made by the internal or external environment that upset balance or homeostasis, thus affecting physical and psychological well-being and requiring action to restore balance or equilibrium (Lazarus & Cohen, 1977). During the 1960s and 1970s the focus of research on stress shifted to identifying and quantifying potential stressors, or stressful life events. Also during that era, stress was viewed as a transactional phenomenon that relied on the meaning of the stimulus to the perceiver (Antonovsky, 1979; Lazarus, 1966). The understanding of stress during that time involved the perceptions of the events (rather than the events themselves) as the main determinants of effects on subsequent behaviors and on health status. Stressful life experiences are interpreted as transactions between the person and the environment in which the impact of external stressors is dependent upon the person's appraisal of that stressor (Lazarus & Cohen).