The proposed study will examine the relationship between economic stress and mental health outcomes for African American women in rural communities. Given the high prevalence of poverty in nonmetropoltan areas and the fact that economic pressure places individuals at greater risk for mental distress, African American women in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States are the focal point of this study. The initial stage of the project will consist of approximately 20 in-depth interviews with rural African American women from various regions in the study area. A major focus of these semi-structured interviews is to identify the ways in which African American women cope with high levels of economic stress. These interviews will aid in determining key constructs for developing a stress vulnerability model for rural African American women. Considering the pervasiveness of economic disparity in the Mississippi Delta region, the researcher expects to determine, through the use of in-depth interview, which factors may be used to better understand the mental health status of rural African American women. Using information gathered in these in-depth interviews, a set of measures will be selected and, where needed, developed for use in a survey. A sample of approximately 250 African American women will be selected from economically depressed regions in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi for interviewing. The results from this survey will be used as a first test of the hypotheses that merge from the literature and in-depth interviews. Particular attention will also be given to the differences which exist among rural African American women with regard to vulnerability and resilience in the face of stress.
