4 - (SYM 77) Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Culturally Compelled Coping, Psychophysiological Regulatory Capacity, and Depression Among Black Americans

For centuries, Black Americans have utilized effortful and persistent coping styles in the face of racism and systematic oppression, which have been coined culturally compelled coping (CCC; Brownlow, 2022). CCC is characterized by persistent and effortful coping styles, emphasizing vigilance and high levels of behavioral and emotional restraint. Given the pervasive threat of racism, CCC is adaptive and often necessitated, particularly for Black women, who are at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. Notably, studies have found that Black Americans exhibit higher resting heart rate variability (HRV)—a biomarker of self-regulatory capacity—than White Americans (Hill et al., 2015), which may reflect the additional resources Black Americans need to regulate in the context of racism. However, the protective benefits of greater HRV are not clear for Black Americans, especially Black women (Chambers & Allen, 2007). Thus, in the present study we explore how gender differentially impacts the relationship between restraint coping, resting HRV, and depression in a sample of Black Americans (N = 254, Mean Age = 20.97, 67% women). Results showed a significant positive relationship between resting HRV and depressive symptoms for Black women endorsing greater restraint coping (1 standard deviation above the mean; B = .06, SE = .03, p = .02, 95% CI [.01, .11]). In addition, the association between resting HRV and depressive symptoms differed between Black women and men reporting high levels of restraint (1 SD above the mean; t(219) = -2.01, SE = .04,  p = .046, 95% CI [-.17, -.002]). In particular, for Black women at high levels of restraint, there was a positive relationship between resting HRV and depressive symptoms (B = .066), while for Black men at high levels of restraint there was an inverse relationship (B = -.022). This suggests that for Black women with greater psychophysiological regulatory capacity—as indexed by resting HRV—the use of high restraint coping, although culturally adaptive, may uniquely increase their risk for depression.  Further, the results provide initial support for the working hypothesis that higher HRV for Black women may reflect a type of psychophysiological compensation, indicative of a greater coping demand and/or a greater frequency of self-regulation in response to chronic racial and gender stress.