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Life Sustaining Well-Being Practices and Physiological Health Among Black Men
Dakota W Cintron1, Monique N Golden2, Jennifer M Boylan3
1Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA. dakota.cintron@cgu.edu.
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
|June 3, 2026
Summary
Meaningful work and daily activities are key well-being practices for Black men in midlife. These practices are linked to better physiological health, including lower inflammation and allostatic load.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Sociology
- Psychology
Background:
- Midlife Black men face unique health challenges.
- Culturally specific well-being practices are understudied.
- Understanding these practices can inform health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- Identify culturally grounded well-being practices in midlife Black men.
- Examine associations between these practices and physiological health markers.
- Inform strengths-based public health strategies for health equity.
Main Methods:
- Analyzed 116 open-ended responses from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.
- Used network topic modeling to identify six well-being themes.
- Employed structural equation modeling to assess associations with allostatic load and inflammation.
Main Results:
- Emphasis on meaningful work and daily activities predicted lower inflammation.
- Meaningful work also predicted lower allostatic load, independent of covariates.
- Other identified well-being practices showed no significant association with physiological markers.
Conclusions:
- Narratives of meaningful work are linked to better physiological health in Black men.
- Culturally grounded well-being practices offer pathways for public health.
- This research highlights strengths-based approaches for health equity.
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