There is a growing urgency to increase understanding of the complex factors that account for persistent cardiovascular health disparities. Much of the coronary heart disease (CHD) disparities research that involves African American men focuses on poverty and lack of access to care despite evidence that racial/ethnic disparities persist after controlling for SES. This descriptive quantitative study examined the interrelationships of race-related stress and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) on CHD risk in a cohort of middle-class African American men who belonged to a Greek-letter African American fraternity. The best predictors of CHD risk for this cohort of middle-class African American men were age and two HRQOL indices, namely physical functioning and general health. The novel findings in this study highlight the significance of social, environmental, and psychosocial factors that impact CHD and CHD risk in middle-class African American men. Ongoing research is needed to elucidate pathways by which social, environmental, and psychosocial factors mediate CHD in African Americans. The results of this study have implications for the role of the nurse-clinician educator in education and clinical practice.Ph.D., Education -- Drexel University, 201
