Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in health are pervasive and enduring across multiple health outcomes (Williams et al., 2010). The adverse physical and mental effects of stress are well documented, with the accumulation of multiple stressors associated with worse outcomes (McEwen 1998; Thoits 2010). Many models of SES and racial disparities in health argue for a central role of stress in accounting for the observed social distribution of disease (Pearlin 1989; Thoits 2010). There is a widespread assumption in the literature that racial differences in stressors exist and that stress is a key mediator linking race to poor health (Hatch and Dohrenwend, 2007; Paradies 2006). However, surprisingly little research explicitly tests this hypothesis.
