Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2019 Does racial identity explain the buffering impact of racial socialization on discrimination? Nellie Moualeu Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.edu/etd Part of the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Moualeu, Nellie, "Does racial identity explain the buffering impact of racial socialization on discrimination?" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations.edu/etd/17062 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact digirep@iastate.
Does racial identity explain the buffering impact of racial socialization on discrimination? by Nellie R. Moualeu A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Psychology Program of Study Committee: Nathaniel Wade, Major Professor Carolyn Cutrona Daniel Russell The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2019 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT……………………………….
iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. 2 Discrimination on Health. 3 Group Identification as Protective Factor. 4 The Current Study.
6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. 7 Discrimination as Stress. 8 Coping with Discrimination. 33 Data Analysis Plan.
47 Post hoc analyses. 51 iii CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION. 52 Limitations and Future Directions. PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION SCALE.
RACIAL SOCIALIZATION SCALE. BLACK PRIDE SCALE. SELF-ESTEEM SCALE. SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS.
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA IRB APPROVAL. IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY IRB APPROVAL. 77 iv ABSTRACT Two variables under the group identification construct have received the most attention in research as significant protective factors moderating the discrimination to distress link: racial identity and racial socialization (Lee & Ahn, 2013; Pascoe & Richman, 2009). These variables are assumed to be related to one another such that an individual’s racial identity is a result of their racial socialization (Katz, 2013).
However, there exist surprisingly few studies aimed directly at explicating this relationship, and even less so exploring how this relationship impacts the discrimination to distress link. This study aimed to build upon past findings and fill this gap in the literature by providing both a longitudinal and an integrative exploratory model examining not only direct effects, but also moderation and mediation pathways of racial socialization and racial identity on the discrimination to distress link. Results were inconclusive. Although racial identity significantly moderated the discrimination to distress link, racial socialization did not, making mediation analyses difficult.
Findings highlighted a need for continued research and implications and future directions for researchers are discussed. Keywords: racial socialization; racial identity; African Americans; discrimination 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A 2011 Public Health Review noted the increased awareness that, without also paying attention to social factors and social determinants of health, medical care alone is an insufficient tool for improving the overall health of individuals (Braveman, Egerter, & Williams, 2011). In African American populations, an important social determinant of health is the experience of discrimination as this is often present in multiple social settings including the workplace, housing, educational, criminal settings, and more (Priest et al., 2013; Schmitt, Brandscombe, Postmes, & Garcia, 2014). Given the pervasive nature of discrimination in African American communities, one would expect these communities to suffer notable psychophysical costs.
Indeed, experiences of discrimination are suspected to be at the core of the racial health disparities witnessed in our society as evidenced by the lower birth rates, higher infant mortality rates, shorter life expectancies, and higher risks of heart disease present in African American populations, as they are significantly associated with these outcomes (Allison, 1998; Flack et al. However, African American populations demonstrate great resilience in the face of this adversity. In our conceptual understanding of the impact of discrimination on health, we assume experiences of discrimination will affect all members of a marginalized group similarly. However, current research does not support this assumption.
There exists a diversity of responses to discrimination, and one factor has drawn special attention to its potential for explaining these differences: group identification. Group identification refers to how closely individuals identify with their racial/ethnic group. A 2009 study identified variables under the group identification construct that appear to moderate the impact of discrimination on health: racial identity and racial socialization (Brondolo et al. 2 Overview African Americans in the United States face many forms of discrimination, including unfair housing laws and practices (Wilson & Callis, 2013), poorer educational opportunities (Kozol, 2012), discrimination in the workplace (Deitch et al.
2003), biased criminal justice standards (Hartney & Vuong, 2009; Wagner & Rabuy 2018), and unequal income levels among other forms of unfair treatment. For example, the most recent federal census report on income, earnings, income inequality, and poverty in the United States – based on data collected in 2017 and previous years – revealed that the economic gap between African American household income on average is nearly 40 percent less than that of European Americans, a gap that appears to have persisted since 1967. An independent report by the Economic Policy Institute tells a more somber story, stating that the gap has not simply persisted, but that it has increased since 1979 and this growth may be due to discrimination: …Changes in unobservable factors—such as racial wage discrimination, racial differences in unobserved or unmeasured skills, or racial differences in labor force attachment of less-skilled men due to incarceration—along with weakened support to fight labor market discrimination continue to be the leading factors for explaining past and now the recent deterioration in the economic position of many African Americans.3) Similar findings are apparent in the housing industry, where, in a 2009 survey of married couples who were renting, European-American couples were four times more likely to qualify for buying a "modestly priced home" than African American couples (Wilson & Callis, 2013). In education, we continue to observe segregation of public schools such that in 2015, European-American students, on average, were observed to attend schools that were 9 percent 3 African-American, while African-American students attended schools that were 48 percent African-American (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2015).
Despite the fact that African Americans make up only 13% of the US population, they make up nearly 34% of high school dropouts, and 40% of the incarcerated population (Hartney & Vuong, 2009; Brown & Lent, 2008; Wagner & Rabuy 2018). Discrimination and Health The pervasiveness of these discriminatory practices, as unfair as they are in themselves, also put African Americans at risk of suffering from serious psychophysical effects. A systematic review of the effects of discrimination on well-being in children and young adults, analyzing 153 papers representing 121 studies, assessed the impact of racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious discrimination on various health outcomes in younger populations. Their analyses revealed a strong and consistent positive association between discrimination and poorer mental health (anxiety, depression, and negative self-esteem), as well as a negative association with indicators of positive mental health (resilience, self-worth, psychological adaptation & adjustment).
Additionally, the researchers noticed that these relationships increased with age, suggesting that racial discrimination may play an important role in the development of children and young adults (Priest et al. A similar study focusing on African American populations examined 328 independent effect sizes, with a total sample population of 144,246, specifically looking at differences in age groups (children under 13 years old, adolescents 13 to 18 years of age, and adults 18 years or older). Their findings provide supporting evidence for the negative relationship between discrimination and wellbeing. However, this study noted that children experienced more negative effects (r = -.26) when compared to adolescents (r = -.
Furthermore, when comparing cross-sectional data against longitudinal data, the 4 researchers noted that considering that the effect sizes were significantly different (r = -.15, respectively), the mean weighted effect size for longitudinal data was still significant at p <. This suggests that the impact of discrimination may not only have an immediate negative effect on well-being, but that those effects are long-lasting (Schmitt, Branscombe, Postmes, & Garcia, 2014). Group Identification as a Protective Factor Despite the pervasiveness of discrimination, not all members of the African American community, when faced with discrimination, suffer from its deleterious effects, suggesting the presence of resilience factors. Research on these resilience factors has revealed group identification, specifically racial identity and racial socialization as important protective factors against the effects of discrimination.
The concept of group identification has its roots in social psychology. Social Psychologists Taijfel and Turner (1979), proposed the Social Identity Theory which suggests that individuals derive a sense of self-worth from their group memberships and that as we develop more positive attitudes towards our in-groups we enhance our self-esteem (Trepte, 2006). Building on this idea, the Rejection-Identification Model (RIM) views rejection as psychologically detrimental and argues that group-identification can help buffer its deleterious impact (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999). As a result, RIM proposes that the more positive the attitudes we hold towards our in-group, the stronger our group identification will be when faced with discrimination (Giamo, Schmitt, & Outten, 2012).
According to these theories, developing strong positive attitudes towards our in-group is instrumental in developing psychological resilience as it leads to positive identity development and improved psychological well-being. Racial identity and racial socialization are believed to be important ingredients in the development of this psychological resilience. 5 Looking at the African American population, there is evidence of the buffering power of racial identification on the impact of discrimination on health. For example, Sellers, Caldwell, Schmeelk-Cone, and Zimmerman (2003) examined the relationship between two racial identity attributes (Centrality and Public Racial Regard) and psychological distress in a population of African American high school students.
Their study, covering two time points, revealed that whereas perceptions of public regard of one's race were not related to psychological distress, greater racial centrality was associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Additionally, they noted that the degree of racial centrality (low, medium, and high) moderated the relationship between discrimination and stress such that for those with high racial centrality, greater discrimination did not predict greater distress. Research on racial socialization demonstrates similar effects. A 1999 study of African American college students examined socialization messages and beliefs, self-esteem, and social networks as potential moderators of the discrimination to distress link.
Findings revealed that for African Americans who reported low levels of racial socialization messages from caregivers, greater discrimination was related to poorer mental health. However, for those with higher levels of socialization messages, the relationship between discrimination and distress was significantly weaker (Fisher and Shaw, 1999). Given the evidence of the moderating impact of these constructs, we lack an understanding of their processes. Said another way, we do not yet understand how these factors are protective.
There exist multiple beliefs aimed at explaining these processes. For example, Katz (2013) stated that “the development of ethnic attitudes is integrally related to the establishment of a child’s self-identity,” suggesting that youth’s racial socialization processes lead to and facilitate their racial identity development (pp. Basic correlational research 6 suggests the presence of a relationship between socialization and identity. Researchers have reported that racial socialization is related to increased feelings of closeness to Black individuals and more positive evaluation of their own racial group (Demo & Hughes, 1990).
Inasmuch as this establishes a relationship between racial socialization and identity, it does very little to explain the causal relationship or demonstrate a potential causality suggested by Katz (2013). Surprisingly, there exist few studies aimed at explicating this relationship, and even fewer exploring how this relationship impacts the discrimination to distress link.