Feeling Blue and Trying Not to Lose Heart: Associations Between Mental Health and Cardiovascular Health Groups for Black Young Adult Women.

OBJECTIVE

Black women in the United States experience a high burden of incident cardiovascular (CV) disease, yet research often focuses on midlife and beyond. One psychological correlate of CV health for Black young adults is mental health. The current study fills a gap in existing CV health prevention knowledge by using an intersectional (ie, racially gendered age-specific) person-centered approach to investigate the CV health groups of Black young adult women and group differences in depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.

METHODS

Data came from a non-probability sample of 482 Black young adult women (ages 18 to 35). Participants completed an online survey in which they self-reported depression, anxiety, and stress, 6 indicators of CV health, and sociodemographics using standardized measures. A latent class analysis was used to identify CV health classes and test differences in class membership by mental health symptoms.

RESULTS

Four classes of CV health were uncovered: moderate high CV health (36.93% of the sample), healthy fiber (12.67%), healthy BMI (17.01%), and moderately healthy physical activity (33.4%). Black young adult women in the moderate high CV health class had fewer depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms compared with all other classes (P<.005). Additional differences in symptoms between suboptimal CV health classes emerged.

CONCLUSIONS

Groups with varied combinations of CV health indicators and associations with mental health emerged. These nuances might help tailor prevention efforts for Black young adult women based on the heterogeneity in cardiovascular health groups and mental health symptoms for this population.