Introduction: Addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is essential to reducing CVD burden in African Americans (AAs). Goal-striving stress (GSS), the stress associated with fears of failure, is particularly relevant to AAa in a society where their upward mobility is often blocked. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the association between GSS and incident hypertension, diabetes, and obesity among AAs.
Methods: Hazard regression models were used to assess the relationship between GSS and incident hypertension, diabetes, and obesity among 4,485 participants in the Jackson Heart Study.
Results: Among men, those with high (vs. low) GSS were 41% less likely to become obese over a mean period of eight years: 0.59 (0.36, 0.95) p=.03.
Discussion: Differences in health behaviors and in stress hormone responses may explain the stress-obesity association we found in men but not women. Future research should examine other factors that may explain this relationship.