Our final set of findings relates to the role of stressors in explaining health disparities. We did not find support for the stress-vulnerability hypothesis as a mechanism driving racial health disparities. However, for Blacks, and to a lesser extent, American-born Hispanics, stress exposure explained a substantial portion of the health differential, even after adjusting for SES, and regardless of how stress was operationalized. These results may be conservative estimates because of the overlap between SES and stress. In our analyses, low SES appeared to capture not only one’s material resources, but also part of the stressful life situations and social environments that accompany them (Pearlin 1989). Our models suggest that stress exposure operates both apart from SES and also through exposure to stressors accompanying low SES.
