Stress and Mental Health: A Focus on COVID-19 and Racial Trauma Stress

Abstract

In the United States, COVID-19 unfolded alongside profound racial trauma. Drawing on a population-representative sample of twenty- to sixty-year-olds who were married or cohabiting, the National Couples’ Health and Time Study (N = 3,642), we examine two sources of stress: COVID-19 and racial trauma. We leverage the fully powered samples of respondents with racial-ethnic and sexual minority identities and find that COVID-19 and racial trauma stress were higher among individuals who were not White or heterosexual most likely due to racism, xenophobia, and cis-heterosexism at the individual and structural levels. Both COVID-19 and racial trauma stress were associated with poorer mental health outcomes even after a rich set of potential mechanistic indicators, including discrimination and social climate, were taken into account. We argue that the inclusion of assessments of stress are critical for understanding health and well-being among individuals affected by systemic and interpersonal discrimination.