Does spousal support moderate the association between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among African American couples?

Social stress theory proposes that stress resulting from one's social position in society leads to fewer coping resources, and subsequently causes an increase in mental health problems. Guided by this framework, we investigated whether the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms was moderated by spousal social support in a sample of 487 African American heterosexual couples. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, findings suggested that female partner's perceived racial discrimination was predictive of her depressive symptomology irrespective of spousal support and male partner's perceived racial discrimination was predictive of depressive symptomology only among men with low levels of spousal support.

"It's a struggle but I can do it. I'm doing it for me and my kids": the psychosocial characteristics and life experiences of at-risk homeless parents in transitional housing.

Families experiencing homelessness face a number of risks to their psychosocial health and well-being, yet few studies have examined the topic of parenting among homeless families. The purpose of this multimethod, descriptive study was to acquire a better understanding of the psychosocial status and life experiences of homeless parents residing in transitional housing. Quantitative data were collected from 69 parents and primary caregivers living in a transitional housing community, with a cohort of 24 participants also contributing qualitative data.