Abstract
Using data from the National Medical Expenditure Survey, a household survey of more than 18,000 respondents, this study examined racial and gender differences in social embeddedness, an indicator of community well-being and social support. The study hypothesized that higher levels of social embeddedness would be found among African Americans than among Whites and that the association between social embeddedness and psychological well-being would be stronger among African Americans than among Whites. African American men reported themselves more socially embedded overall than White men and, in one instance, their social involvement was especially important in predicting psychological well-being. African American women were more likely than White women to report attending meetings of churches and community groups, but otherwise were less socially involved than White women. There was no evidence of a difference between African American and White women in strength of the connection between social embeddedness and psychological well-being. African American social involvement is more selective than previously believed and generalizations must be qualified on the basis of gender.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
REFERENCES
Aday, L. A. (1994). Health status of vulnerable populations. Annual Review of Public Health, 15, 487–509.
Barrera, M. J. (1986). Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 413–432.
Berkman, L. F., & Syme, L. S. (1994). Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: A nine year follow up study of Alameda County residents. In A. Steptoe & J. Wardle (Eds.), Psychosocial Processes and Health: A Reader (pp. 43–67). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Berwick, D. M., Murphy, J. M., Goldman, F. A., Ware, J. E., Barsky, A. J., & Weinstein, M. C. (1991). Performance of a five-item mental health screening test. Medical Care, 29, 169–173.
Betancourt, H., & Lopez, S. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48, 629–637.
Chen, S. P. C., Telleen, S., & Chen, E. H. (1995). Family and community support or urban pregnant students: Support person, function, and parity. Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 28–33.
Cobb, S. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 95–120.
Davis, A. A., & Rhodes, J. E. (1994). African American teenage mothers and their mothers: An analysis of supportive and problematic interactions. Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 12–24.
DeFour, D. C., & Hirsch, B. J. (1990). The adaptation of black graduate students: A social network approach. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 487–503.
Dressler, W. W. (1985). Extended family relationships, social support, and mental in a southern black community. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 26, 39–48.
Evans, M. G. (1985). A monte carlo study of the effects of correlated method variance in moderated multiple regression analsysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Deviance Processes, 36, 305–323.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: The Free Press.
Henly, J. (1997). The complexity of support: The impact of family structure and provisional support on African American and white adolescent mothers well-being. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 629–655.
Hines, A. M., Snowden, L. R., & Caetano, R. (1999). Depression, alcohol consumption, and AIDS-related sexual behavior among African American, Hispanic, and white women. Manuscript under review.
Hines, A., Snowden, L. R., & Graves, K. L. (1998). Acculturation, alcohol consumption and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior among African American women. Women and Health, 25, 125–131.
Hofferth, S. L. (1984). Kin network, race, and family structure. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 791–806.
Hunter, J. E. (1997). Needed: A ban on the significance test. Psychological Science, 8, 3–7.
Jackson, J. J. (1970). Kinship relations among urban Blacks. Journal of Social Behavioral Sciences, 16, 1–13.
Jackson, P. B. (1992). Specifying the buffering hypothesis: Support, strain, and depression. Social Psychological Quarterly, 55, 363–378.
Jay, G. M., & D'Augelli, A. R. (1991). Social support and adjustment to university life: A comparison of African American and white freshman. Journal of Community Psychology, 19, 95–104.
Jaynes, G. D., & Williams, R. M. (1989). A common destiny: Blacks and American society. National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Jones-Webb, R., Snowden, L. R., Herd, D., Short, B., & Hannan, P. (1997). Alcohol related problems among Black Hispanic and white men: The contribution of neighborhood poverty. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58, 539–545.
Jones-Webb, R., & Snowden, L. R. (1993). Symptoms of depression among blacks and whites. American Hournal of Public Health, 83, 240–244.
LaVeist, T. A., Sellers, R. M., Elliot Brown, K. A., & Nickerson, K. J. (1997). Extreme social isolation, use of community-based senior support services, and mortality among African American elderly women. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 721–731.
Lee, B. A., Campbell, K. E., & Miller, O. (1991). Racial differences in urban neighboring. Sociological Forum, 6(3), 525–550.
Leiberman, M. (1982). The effects of social supports on responses to stress. In L. Goldberger & S. Breznitz (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 764–783). New York: The Free Press.
Martin, E., & Martin, J. (1995). The helping tradition in the black family and community. Washington, DC: National Association of SocialWorker Press.
Maton, K. I. (1990). Meaningful involvement in instrumental activity and well-being: Studies of older adolescents and at risk urban teen-agers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 297–320.
Maton, K. I., Teti, D. M., Corns, K. M., Vieria-Baker, C. C., Lavine, J. R., Gouze, K. R., & Keating, D. P. (1996). Cultural specificity of support sources, correlates and contexts: Three studies of African American and Caucasian youth. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 551–587.
McClelland, G. H., & Judd, C. M. (1993). Statistical difficulties of detecting interactions and moderator effects. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 376–390.
Milburn, N. G., & Bowman, C. J. (1991). Neigborhood life. In J. S. Jackson (Ed.), Life in Black America (pp. 31–45). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Miller-Lancar, C. L., Erwin, C. J., Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., & Swank, P. R. (1998). Characteristics of social support networks of low socioeconomic status African American, Anglo, and Mexican American mothers of full-term and preterm infants. Journal of Community Psychology, U26, 131–143.
Mor-Barek, M. E., Miller, L. S., & Syme, L. S. (1991). Social networks, life events, and health of the poor, frail elderly:A longitudinal study of the buffering versus the direct effect. Family and Community Health, 14, 1–13.
Newhouse, J. (1974). A design for a health insurance experiment. Inquiry, 11, 5–27.
Rhodes, J. E., Ebert, L., & Fischer, K. (1992). Natural mentors: An overlooked resource in the social networks of young, African American mothers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 445–461.
Rice, M. E. (1997). Violent offender research and implications for the criminal justice system. American Psychologist, 52, 414–423.
Roschelle, A. R. (1997). No more kin: Exploring race, class, and gender in family networks. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Saegert, S. (1989). Unlikely leaders, extreme circumstances: Older Black women building community households. American Journal of Community Psychology, 17(3), 295–316.
Seeman, T. E., & Syme, L. S. (1987). Social networks and coronary artery disease: A comparison of the structure and function of social relations as predictors of disease. Psychosomatic Medicine, 49(4), 341–354.
Snowden, L. R. (1998). Racial differences in informal help-seeking form mental health problems. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 429–438.
Snowden, L. R. (1998). Managed care and ethnic minority populations. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 25, 125–131.
Snowden, L. R., & Hines, A. M. (1998). Acculturation, alcohol consumption, and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior among African American men. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 345–359.
Snowden, L. R., & Hines, A. M. (1999). A scale to assess African American acculturation. Journal of Black Psychology, 25, 36–47.
Snowden, L. R., Libby, A., & Thomas, K. (1997). Health related and utilization among African American women. Womens Health:Research on Gender, Behavior, and Policy, 3, 301–314.
Sonn, C. C., & Fisher, A. T. (1998). Sense of Community: Community resilient responses to oppression and change. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 457–472.
Stack, C. B. (1974). All our kin: Strategies for survival in a Black community. New York: Harper & Row.
Stewart, A. L., Hays, R. D., & Ware, J. D. (1988). The MDS short form general health survey. Medical Care, 26, 724–732.
Swets, J. A. (1988, June 3). Measuring the accuracy of diagnostic systems. Science, 240, 1285–1293.
Taylor, R. J., & Chatters, L. M. (1991). Religious life. In J. S. Jackson (Ed.), Life in Black America (pp. 105–123). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Vaux, A. (1988). Social support: Theory, research, and intervention. New York: Praeger.
Walls, C. T., & Zarut, S. H. (1991). Informal support from Black churches and the well-being of elderly Blacks. Gerontological, 31, 490–495.
Wilcox, B. L. (1981). Social support, life stress, and psychological adjustment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 371–386.
Wilson, M. N., Greene-Bates, C., McKim, L., & Simmons, F. (1995). African American family life. In M. N. Wilson (Ed.), African American family life: Its structural and ecological aspects (pp. 5–21). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Zedeck, S. (1971). Problems with the use of "moderator" variables. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 295–310.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Snowden, L.R. Social Embeddedness and Psychological Well-Being Among African Americans and Whites. Am J Community Psychol 29, 519–536 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010480816822
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010480816822