Chronic stress in low income communities

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The Prevalence of Chronic Stress among Low-Income Earners Living In Manhattan, Harlem
Introduction
Chronic stress is a state where one becomes resigned to their state, feeling helpless and overwhelmed by emotional pressure arising from long periods when the person cannot meet what they desire, like basic needs. Chronic stress is common among the people who have low incomes as they fail to repeatedly meet their basic requirements like their housing, food and health requirements.
The Prevalence of Chronic Stress in Manhattan, Harlem
In America, chronic stress is socially inclined with the African American. In Manhattan, and specifically Harlem, where US census bureau’s population division noted that 328 381 African Americans live in the year 2008, a significant average of 18% had the risk of contracting the chronic stress or have been diagnosed with the condition. According to Smith, Fanelli and Lesser of Dailynews.com, the population of the blacks in Manhattan dropped by 6% to less than 250000 in 2010, while the other ethnic societies have seen an increasing number in population (Smith, Fanelli and Lesser 1-2). The New York Times poises the same trends in data that indicates that in the year 2008, up to 22% of the white population had already settled in their permanent and current homes, compared to only 7% of the blacks that had done the same. The newspaper goes ahead to indicate that the disparities largely arose from the ability of the residents to afford the costs of owning such residences in Manhattan and the larger New York City (Roberts 1-2).

It is, possible to hypothesize that the increasingly high cost of living in New York’s Manhattan is driving out the blacks as it causes higher chances of contracting chronic stress.
Literature ReviewStress is the mental condition first discovered by Hans Selye who lived between the years 1907 and 1982. Out of his 1936 experiments with rats, he realized that deprivation caused the rats to develop a state of need and so responded to correct the situation. In the year 1997, Judith Herman in her publication of the “Trauma & Recovery” noted the first instance of posttraumatic stress disorder, the closest condition related to chronic stress (Bridges 35-7). The term heavily borrowed from the 1993 McEwen and Stellar use of the term allostatic load, the precursor of chronic stress (McEwen and Elliot 2093-4).
Understanding what could be causing the drop in the population of the blacks in Manhattan would be important. A research study carried out by Jackson, Knight, and Rafferty in 2010 on the prevalence of the chronic stress indicated that the black race in the region, higher levels of chronic conditions was identified among the population. Blacks reported a 46.6% cases of chronic conditions against the white race that reported 36.4% cases (Jackson, Knight and Rafferty 1-2). This indicates that the blacks in the Manhattan region must be having more instances of chronic stressors compared to the whole populations. According to the research data report, there was a cumulative response rate of 68% among the 874 black respondents and the 1906 white respondents.
In a study carried out in 2012 by Gracie M. Moore-Greene et al., to show the extent to which the African American women are susceptible to the chronic illnesses and obesity, it was found out that finances related issues contributed up to 33% of the African American women stress factors. Moreover, there was a further 28% who indicated that work-related problems caused them stress. The family issues contributed 19% (Moore-Greene et al. 185-190). All the three variable can be generalized into a single field of study that is economics. This shows that economically, up to a total of 80% of the stress factors among the African American women are money and wellbeing related.
Chronic stress that results from the natural calamities and large scale disasters have different kinds of impacts on people, but the differences are more manifest among the African Americans. People with low economic ability takes longer to recover and rebuild from disasters that may affect their social life. In the advent of the September 11th terror attack in New York, research studies indicated that the Africa Americans took a longer time to recuperate from the various kinds of losses people sustained CITATION Bar05 l 1033 (Barnes, Treiber and Ludwig).
According to the research study report, it is indicated that up to 13% of the students who were adversely affected had a history of higher overt levels of anger expression, a trait common among the people of low-income societies, especially the African Americans. Among the white adolescents, there was no discernible relationship between the psychological, physical and emotional impacts and the development of chronic stress levels. In the year 2016, Nguyen carried out research on the relationship between the development of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) and the social support, with the report findings that confirms the research. The report indicated that negative family interactions that are majorly common among the African Americans with low-income levels (Nguyen and et al. 1-6).
Recommendations to the Community
Research studies have confirmed that the African America society members are most prone to the development of the chronic stress. Some of the stressors are financially related while others are related to the kind of support the family care that the family members give to one another in times of need. The African Americans, therefore, should look into ways in which the Society members can provide conditions that would reduce the prevalence of chronic stress. Some of the initiatives that they can take include
Economic empowerment of the African American society members through creation of job opportunities that would improve the quality of life
Providing financial assistance to one another among the community members as a way of reducing the intensity of the short-term economic stressors
Seeking psychological and psychiatric support when the people suspect that they can develop the conditions similar to the development of chronic stress
Conclusion
Chronic stress is becoming more common in Harlem areas of Manhattan due to the rising cost of living that the residents cannot manage to pay. The stressors are majorly economic value factors that end up causing more health related problems like weight gain, diabetes, and obesity. A faster resolution through economic empowerment of the African Americans living in Harlem would be a good way to boost the chronic stress recovery rates. This would be possible through the provision of job opportunities for the development of financial freedom.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Barnes, Vernon Vernon, Frank A. Treiber and David A. Ludwig. “African-American adolescents’ stress responses after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.” Journal Of Adolescent Health (2005): 201–207. Web.
Bridgers, Lynn. “Is anybody listening? Trauma, abuse, and healing in the Roman Catholic community.” Journal of Religion & Abuse 7.1 (2005): 35-59.
McEwen, Bruce S., and Eliot Stellar. “Stress and the individual: Mechanisms leading to disease.” Archives of internal medicine 153.18 (1993): 2093-2101.
Jackson, James S., Katherine M. Knight and Jane A. Rafferty. “Race and Unhealthy Behaviors: Chronic Stress, the HPA Axis, and Physical and Mental Health Disparities Over the Life Course.” American Journal of Public Health (2010): 933–939. Print.
Moore-Greene, Gracie M. “Chronic Stress And Decreased Physical Exercise: Impact On Weight For African American Women.” Ethnicity & Disease Journal (20102): 185-191. Print.
Nguyen, Ann W. and et al. “Family, friends, and 12-month PTSD among African Americans.” The International Journal of Research in Social and Genetic Epidemiology andMental Health Services (2016): 1-6. Web.
Roberts, Sam. “No Longer Majority Black, Harlem Is in Transition.” New York Times 5 January 2010: 1-5. Web.
Smith, Greg B, James Fanelli and Benjamin Lesser. “Manhattan’s diversity ebbing as city demographics evolve, new census figures show.” Daily News, New York 26 December 2010: 1-2. Print.