Work

The costs and benefits of striving: Subclinical cardiovascular disease, depression, and hostility as children navigate adversity.

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Adversity (e.g., poverty, discrimination, or stress) does not always produce harmful effects. "Striving" against adversity has been linked to positive psychological outcomes, such as lower depression, suggesting resilience; however, striving against severe adversity appears to simultaneously produce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk (framed in the literature as "John Henryism"). METHOD: = 283; 45.6% female; 54.4% self-identifying as Black and 45.6% as White). For outcomes, we assessed subclinical CVD indicators (left ventricular [LV] mass and resting blood pressure), as well as children's depressive symptoms and hostility (self-report survey). RESULTS: values < .05) such that greater striving for children living in high adversity resulted in greater LV mass, higher systolic blood pressure, higher hostility, but lower depressive symptoms, whereas increasing striving for children living in moderate adversity resulted in lower LV mass, systolic blood pressure, and hostility, but no association with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This pattern we observed is becoming consistent in the literature, whereby striving against adversity produces psychological and physical benefits when adversity is below a certain threshold but produces continued psychological benefits yet CVD risks when adversity rises beyond this threshold. Efforts to protect children living in severe adversity might benefit from interventions designed to maintain the psychological benefits associated with striving against adversity while simultaneously blocking any harm to the cardiovascular system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Health Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/hea0001598