Key result
Higher resting heart rate variability moderated the relationship between institutional race-related stress and psychological distress in African American men, but not women.
Why the study?
Does heart rate variability moderate the relationship between race-related stress and psychological distress in African Americans?
Cross-Sectional (n=215)
Does heart rate variability moderate the relationship between race-related stress and psychological distress in African Americans?
Higher levels of resting heart rate variability may buffer African American men from the deleterious effects of institutional race-related stress.
Does not support clinical adoption of HRV assessment; hypothesis-generating for sex-specific buffering against institutional stress.
This study examined the moderator effects of heart rate variability, a physiological marker of stress vulnerability, on the relationship between race-related stress and psychological distress in African Americans (N = 215). Participants were administered the Index of Race-Related Stress-Brief and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18. Resting heart rate was recorded using the Polar 810s heart rate monitor. Findings indicated that heart rate variability moderated the relationship between institutional race-related stress and psychological distress for men, but not women. These findings suggest that higher levels of resting heart rate variability may buffer African Americans from the deleterious effects of race-related stress.
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Utsey et al. (2007) conducted a cross-sectional in Psychological distress (n=215). Heart rate variability was evaluated on Psychological distress. Higher resting heart rate variability moderated the relationship between institutional race-related stress and psychological distress in African American men, but not women.
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