Abstract
The goal of this article is to describe a conceptual multilevel model that provides evidence of embodiment of a societal stressor on the health of the individuals and illustrate with simulated data how omitting components in the analysis model fails to properly capture how context influences health.
We describe a two-level model with variables at each level: stress at the group level and appraisal at the individual level. These factors are assumed to influence the blood pressure of individuals. Importantly, the person-level predictor is responsible for bringing the group-level predictor to the individual level by a cross-level interaction between stress and appraisal and/or a mediated effect of stress. When combined, the model components may be partitioned into a pure direct effect, a pure indirect effect, pure interaction effect, and an interaction-in-mediation effect. Data were generated in accordance with the model with each component accounting for some proportion of variance in blood pressure.
To the extent these components operate in the process of embodiment, a proposition we argue is reasonable, failure to specify the analytic model with all components leads to failure to characterize embodiment and misattribution of the effect and mechanism.
To fully quantify embodiment of a societal stressor on a health outcome, studies should use multilevel designs and estimate cross-level interactions and mediated effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).