[Susan27475]

Why do whites take things in life so hard? I've worked in several medical clinics. Most of them had African-American populations. Now I'm working in a clinic with a majority white population. The negative emotional responses I've seen whites give to illness is of a higher degree than the black populations I've worked with. Nasty things happen to people all of the time. Why the problems with coping?

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Name : Susan27475, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 40, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, 

[Michell20527]

As far as speaking for all white people, I can only guess, so here goes. I think that white people take tragedies very hard because it does not fall in line with our expectations. We as a race are taught to aim for lofty goals, and to work to achieve them. We have not had some of the obstacles that blacks have had in achieving these goals. Historically, blacks in this country have had to accept hardship in their lives as a matter of course. When whites who have never had to face hardship are suddenly caught by surprise by tragedy, we take it hard because it does not fit in with our plans. As an athiest, I take the death of a loved one very hard because I view it as a permanent state. But that is a whole other story.

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Name : Michell20527, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 32, City : Dayton, State : OH Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, 

[Nicholas F.]

I realize that "black people don't care" is certainly not always the case, but from a white person's point of view that's what many could, and probably do think. I've worked in a clinical environment in the past and found myself asking the question, why don't any of the black people working here care about these people? I've since come to realize that it's just a different way of coping. We use empathy, you use apathy. So, to answer your question, there is no more or less problem coping. We just do it differently.

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Name : Nicholas F., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Human, Religion : Catholic, Age : 38, City : Panorama City, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Network Engineer, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Matthew]

I think a person's response to illness is probably related to their connection to this life. Their connection might be reflective of the type of life they have lived. If one's life has been relatively easy, with friends, family, security, happiness, etc., then when confronted by a threat one would be distraught. Whereas, if one has experienced mostly pain, suffering, and loss, then the prospect of leaving this place might not be such a bad idea.

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Name : Matthew, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 45, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, 

[Mandi]

I laughed when I read the responses to this question because I would never have thought people would come up with these explanations as to why whites have less coping skills than blacks. My friends and I have always thought it was generally understood that whites, in general, have had less things to have to cope with, so they have less reason to develop coping skills. Some even think that they are less deserving of having bad things happen to them(as if anyone deserves to have bad things happen). Consequently, when they do have a tragedy, white people are less able to deal with it since they haven't had to develop coping skills. Another reason might be that a lot of black people are more spiritually oriented than a lot of white people, and belief in a religion goes a long way toward helping people cope.

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Name : Mandi, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 21, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Chris D.]

I come from a lower class family. We never had problems facing adversity... it was a constant. I know many friends who were middle and upper class who were befuddled when faced with it, though. I don't know what the socioeconomic status of the clinics you worked at were, but could that have any influence on what you experienced?

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Name : Chris D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Atheist, Age : 32, City : Austin, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Production Management, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Kathy26666]

Actually, I've observed that other ethnic cultures are much less able to cope with hardship. It appears on nightly news all the time. Everytime there is a disaster, the non-Caucasion cultures sit and wail, waiting the the United States to come and help them, but during floods, hurricanes earthquakes, tornadoes etc. the white people (and blacks, too, in the U.S.) get to work, clean things up, rebuild and get on with life, even though they too are mourning. I too work in a medical office and haven't observed whites less accepting of bad news than any other culture.

User Detail :  

Name : Kathy26666, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 47, City : Springfield, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Admin. Asst., Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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