In contrast, our results provided more support for racial differences in physical reactivity to family arguments. Moreover, racial differences in physical reactivity and racial similarities in emotional reactivity are both consistent with previous research that reveals racial disparities in physical health (Geronimus, Hicken, Keene, & Bound, 2006) as opposed to mental health (Neighbors, Sellers, Zhang, & Jackson, 2011). As expected, African Americans reported greater family argument-related increases in physical health symptoms than European Americans did, and African Americans’ physical reactivity lasted into the next day. These findings suggest that negative family interactions may take a greater toll on African Americans’ than on European Americans’ physical health. Prolonged reactivity may further undermine African Americans’ health and well-being due to the negative repercussions associated with repeated activation of the stress response (Geronomius et al., 2006), thus contributing to African Americans’ well-documented health disadvantage (Williams, 2002; Williams & Mohammed, 2009). The enduring effects of family arguments may depend on the conflict behaviors used during the disagreement. Future studies should consider daily assessments that explicitly capture these behaviors. In contrast, avoiding arguments with family
