Our second set of findings, which examined the relationship between stress exposure and health, showed significant associations between at least some stressors and all four outcomes. Two stressors—financial strain and relationship stressors—stood out for their large and consistent association with poor health, even after adjusting for co-occurring stressors and the number of stressors. Our analyses revealed that the associations between stressors and health were remarkably consistent across racial groups. And consistent with prior research (Myers 2009), we found a graded association between the number of stressors and poor health, with each additional stressor associated with worse outcomes. In addition, our analyses showed that the effect of a given stressor will be overestimated if concurrent exposure to other stressors is not accounted for. The greater clustering of stressors and the higher rates of relationship and financial stressors among Blacks and American-born Hispanics suggest that these stressors may be especially important factors in understanding minorities’ relatively worse health profiles.
