University environment as a mediator of Latino ethnic identity and persistence attitudes.

The authors examined whether the perception of the university environment mediated the relationship between ethnic identity and persistence attitudes of Latino college students. Participants were 175 Latino college students who attended a primarily White university. The results supported the hypothesized mediating role of the university environment. Higher Latino ethnic identity was associated with perceiving a more negative university environment and feeling less committed to finishing college. In turn, perception of a negative college environment was associated with feeling less committed to finishing college. When perception of the university environment was removed, no significant relationship was found between ethnic identity and persistence attitudes, indicating that it is the perceived context that influences Latino college students' persistence attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the relationship between multiple internalized oppressions and African American lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning persons' self-esteem and psychological distress.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 56(2) of Journal of Counseling Psychology (see record 2009-04542-008). The DOI was incorrect. The correct DOI is 10.1037/a0013317.] Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) persons come from diverse cultural groups with diverse racial and ethnic identities. However, most research on LGBQ persons has used primarily White samples, and most research on African Americans has used largely heterosexual samples. Thus, research has largely failed to attend to and investigate the complexity of African American LGBQ persons' experiences. This study examined the relations between multiple internalized oppressions and African American sexual minority persons' self-esteem and psychological distress. Results indicated that when examined together, internalized racism and internalized heterosexism (also known as internalized homophobia) were both significant negative predictors of self-esteem, but only internalized heterosexism was a unique positive predictor of psychological distress. The interaction of internalized racism and internalized heterosexism was not a significant predictor of self-esteem or psychological distress. Finally, the authors' findings indicate that self-esteem partially mediates the relationship between internalized heterosexism and psychological distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal examination of the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites across the college experience.

This longitudinal investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites, which refer to the consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. We examined how White students' affective costs of racism (i.e., White empathy, guilt, and fear) changed across the college experience and how gender, colorblind racial ideology, and diversity experiences were associated with those costs. Findings indicated that White empathy, guilt, and fear each had a distinct trajectory of change across the college experience. Moreover, patterns of change for each cost were moderated by colorblind racial attitude scores at college entrance. We also found that participation in college diversity experiences (e.g., diversity courses) was associated with the costs; moreover, different types of diversity experiences were linked to particular costs. These findings provide insight into the affective experiences of White students across college and thus may be useful to counseling psychologists and educators who design and implement programs and policies to enhance diversity education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racism, ideology, and affirmative action revisited: The antecedents and consequences of "principled objections" to affirmative action.

In 2 studies, the antecedents and consequences of "principled objections" to affirmative action (specific, "race-neutral" reasons for opposing the policy) among Whites were examined. In Study 1, data from a probability sample of Los Angeles adults indicated the following: (1) that principled-objection endorsement was driven not merely by race-neutral values but also by dominance-related concerns like racism; (2) that principled objections mediated the effects of group dominance; and (3) that education strengthened-rather than attenuated-the relationship between dominance-related concerns and principled objections, whereas it left the relationship between race-neutral values and the latter essentially unchanged. In Study 2, the education findings were conceptually replicated in a panel study of undergraduates: The completion of additional years of college boosted the correlation between racism and principled objections, whereas it had no effect on the predictive power of conservatism. These results provide support for a general group-dominance approach, which suggests that factors like racism continue to shape White opposition to race-targeted policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two Forms of Racism and Their Related Outcomes: The Bad and the Ugly.

Two experiments investigated the related outcomes of two forms of racism among college students (413 in the first and 374 in the second experiment) enrolled in a program leading to careers in law enforcement such as police officers. The two forms of racism were the overt, traditional type whereby visible minorities are denigrated the basis of innate characteristics, and the subtle type called neoracism, which incorporates egalitarian values and negative beliefs in the blame of visible minorities for undeserved gains and overall social problems. The design of the experiments allowed for a reality check that they pertained to racial issues relevant to training and work in law enforcement. Experiment 1 showed, as hypothesized, that although both forms of racism are linked, only neoracism is associated with covert attitudes (i.e., unfavourable reactions to employment equity), and traditional racism is related to overt discriminatory behavioural intentions. Experiment 2 investigated the impact of priming a negative reaction to a visible minority on the pattern of these links. Under such conditions the observed links strongly suggest that respondents regress to old norms as neoracism is then associated with both covert negative attitudes and overt discriminatory behavioural intentions. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prejudiced personality, racism, and anti-Semitism: the PR scale forty years later

The relationship of prejudiced personality traits with racism and anti-Semitism was examined with 150 Asian American and White university students. The Prejudice (PR) scale, composed of 32 items from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, was administered along with the McConahay racism scale and the Selznick and Steinberg Anti-Semitism scale. Results indicated that for Whites, the PR scale was significantly correlated with old-fashioned and modern racism and anti-Semitism, replicating Gough's 1951 study (Gough, 1951b) with the PR scale. However, no such relationship was observed for the Asian American group. This suggests that personality traits of prejudicial attitudes may be relatively stable for Whites but may not be related to outgroup bias for other racial or ethnic groups.     

Effects of a brief video intervention on White university students' racial attitudes.

The authors investigated the effects of a brief video intervention on the racial attitudes of White university students. One hundred thirty-eight self-identified White students were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition in which they viewed a video documenting the pervasiveness of institutional racism and White privilege in the United States or a neutral control condition. Findings offer preliminary support that participants in the experimental, but not the control, condition showed significant increases in racial awareness (i.e., decrease in racial color-blindness), White empathy, and White guilt, at posttest. However, no significant differences in racial prejudice or White fear of racial minorities were observed at posttest. Implications for multicultural counseling training, diversity programming, and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beliefs about affirmative action: A test of the group self-interest and racism beliefs models.

Two models of affirmative action attitudes (i.e., group self-interest and racism beliefs) were examined among a sample of racially diverse college students. Open-ended questions were included to provide students an opportunity to elaborate on their beliefs about affirmative action and beliefs about the existence of racial discrimination. Findings from logistic regression analysis on a subsample (n = 376) provide support for both models; race (a proxy for group self-interest) and racism beliefs (as measured by the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale [CoBRAS] and an the open-ended question) helped predict endorsement of affirmative action in theoretically expected ways. Asian, Latino, and Black students were more likely to view affirmative action as helpful compared to their White counterparts, and limited awareness of institutional racism (i.e., higher CoBRAS scores) was associated with antiaffirmative action arguments. Follow-up analysis, however, provided support for the superiority of the racism beliefs model as measured by the CoBRAS in predicting affirmative action beliefs over the group-interest model. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further validation of the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale on a sample of university students in the southeastern United States.

We examined the factor structure of the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale (PCRW; Spanierman & Heppner, 2004) on 766 White American university students from the southeastern United States. Results from confirmatory factor analyses supported the 3-factor model proposed by Spanierman and Heppner (2004). The construct validity of the PCRW was further strengthened by its convergent validity demonstrated by the associations among its subscales and White racial identity attitudes and White privilege attitude. Our findings support the continued exploration of the validity and reliability of the PCRW as well as its utility as a measure of White individuals’ affective responses to racism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Examining the relationship between multiple internalized oppressions and African American lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning persons’ self-esteem and psychological distress”: Correction.

Reports an error in "Examining the relationship between multiple internalized oppressions and African American lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning persons' self-esteem and psychological distress" by Dawn M. Szymanski and Arpana Gupta (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2009[Jan], Vol 56[1], 110-118). The DOI was incorrect. The correct DOI is 10.1037/a0013317. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-00624-002.) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) persons come from diverse cultural groups with diverse racial and ethnic identities. However, most research on LGBQ persons has used primarily White samples, and most research on African Americans has used largely heterosexual samples. Thus, research has largely failed to attend to and investigate the complexity of African American LGBQ persons' experiences. This study examined the relations between multiple internalized oppressions and African American sexual minority persons' self-esteem and psychological distress. Results indicated that when examined together, internalized racism and internalized heterosexism (also known as internalized homophobia) were both significant negative predictors of self-esteem, but only internalized heterosexism was a unique positive predictor of psychological distress. The interaction of internalized racism and internalized heterosexism was not a significant predictor of self-esteem or psychological distress. Finally, the authors' findings indicate that self-esteem partially mediates the relationship between internalized heterosexism and psychological distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived racism and vascular reactivity in black college women: Moderating effects of seeking social support.

This quasi-experimental study explored the association of perceived racism and seeking social support to vascular reactivity in a college sample of 110 Black women. Perceived racism and seeking social support were assessed via self-report, and vascular reactivity was measured before and during a standardized speaking task. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived racism was positively related to changes in systolic blood pressure. These analyses also indicated that seeking social support moderated the relationship between perceived racism and systolic blood pressure changes. This interaction effect persisted after controlling for several potential confounders. Follow-up regression analyses showed that perceived racism was positively associated with reactivity among participants who were low in seeking social support. A significant relationship was not observed between perceived racism and systolic blood pressure changes among participants who were high in seeking social support. Perceived racism and seeking social support were not significantly associated with changes in diastolic blood pressure. These findings highlight the importance of examining psychosocial factors that may mitigate the hypothesized relationship between perceived racism and reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents' reference-group choices, self-esteem, and adjustment.

330 Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White high school students reported their reference-group label as mainstream, bicultural, or strongly ethnically identified. Compared with other groups, White students were significantly more likely to be mainstream. Across ethnic groups, students reporting a strong ethnic identification held attitudes that were significantly more separatist, reported more ethnic pride, engaged in less cross-ethnic contact out of school, reported more cross-ethnic conflict, and used English significantly less often than other reference groups. Reference-group label was not associated with significant ethnic differences in self-esteem, social competence, or grade point average (GPA). The generational status of minority students is discussed as a potential influence mediating the impact of reference group on adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racism, conservatism, Affirmative Action, and intellectual sophistication: A matter of principled conservatism or group dominance?

Using data from 3 different samples, the authors found that: (a) the relationships between political conservatism and racism generally increases as a function of educational sophistication; however, the relationship between political conservatism and anti-Black affect did not increase with educational sophistication. (b) The correlation between political conservatism and racism could be entirely accounted for by their mutual relationship with social dominance orientation. (c) Generally, the net effect of political conservatism, racism, and social dominance orientation on opposition to affirmative action increased with increasing education. These findings contradict much of the case for the principled conservatism hypothesis, which maintains that political values that are largely devoid of racism, especially among highly educated people, are the major source of White's opposition to affirmative action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Filipino Americans and racism: A multiple mediation model of coping.

Although the literature on Asian Americans and racism has been emerging, few studies have examined how coping influences one’s encounters with racism. To advance the literature, the present study focused on the psychological impact of Filipino Americans’ experiences with racism and the role of coping as a mediator using a community-based sample of adults (N = 199). Two multiple mediation models were used to examine the mediating effects of active, avoidance, support-seeking, and forbearance coping on the relationship between perceived racism and psychological distress and self-esteem, respectively. Separate analyses were also conducted for men and women given differences in coping utilization. For men, a bootstrap procedure indicated that active, support-seeking, and avoidance coping were mediators of the relationship between perceived racism and psychological distress. Active coping was negatively associated with psychological distress, whereas both support seeking and avoidance were positively associated with psychological distress. A second bootstrap procedure for men indicated that active and avoidance coping mediated the relationship between perceived racism and self-esteem such that active coping was positively associated with self-esteem, and avoidance was negatively associated with self-esteem. For women, only avoidance coping had a significant mediating effect that was associated with elevations in psychological distress and decreases in self-esteem. The results highlight the importance of examining the efficacy of specific coping responses to racism and the need to differentiate between the experiences of men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of coping in the relationship between perceived racism and racism-related stress for Asian Americans: Gender differences.

On the basis of stress and coping theory, the authors examined coping as a mediator of the relationship between perceptions of racism and racism-related stress with a sample of Asian American college students (N = 336). Results indicated that coping mediated the relationship between racism and racism-related stress differentially by gender. The more that men perceived racism, the more likely they were to use support-seeking coping strategies that were associated with higher levels of racism-related stress. The more that women perceived racism, the more they used active coping strategies that were associated with higher levels of racism-related stress. The findings demonstrate how coping with racism differs for Asian Americans on the basis of gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

White students reflecting on whiteness: Understanding emotional responses.

In the present investigation, we explored potential predictors of White students' general emotional responses after they reflected on their Whiteness in a semistructured interview (n = 88) or written reflection (n = 187). Specifically, we examined how color-blindness (i.e., awareness of White privilege) and racial affect (i.e., White empathy, White guilt, and White fear), assessed before the interview or written reflection, may predict positive and negative emotional responses, assessed immediately following the interview or written reflection. Furthermore, we considered whether affective costs of racism to Whites moderated the association between racial color-blindness and general positive and negative emotional responses of White students. Findings indicated that affective costs of racism moderated associations between racial color-blindness and general emotional responses. Specifically, White fear moderated associations for the written reflection group whereas White empathy moderated an association in the interview. White guilt did not moderate, but instead directly predicted a negative emotional response in the written reflection group. Findings suggest that the interaction between racial color-blindness and racial affect is important when predicting students' emotional responses to reflecting on their Whiteness. Implications for educators and administrators are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asian Indians' responses to discrimination: A mixed-method examination of identity, coping, and self-esteem.

The focus on racial injustice in ethnic minority psychology recognizes a need to understand the effects of racism experienced by Asian Indians in the U.S. Utilizing a mixed-method approach with 102 first and second generation Asian Indians, we examined (a) when and why race and ethnicity are salient for Asian Indians, (b) the mediating roles of racial identity and ethnic identity, and (c) the moderating roles of generational status and racial socialization on the relationship between racism related stress, self-esteem and coping. Qualitative analyses revealed distinct and overlapping themes related to race and ethnicity highlighting the relevance of both constructs to participants. Quantitative analyses revealed racial identity to be a significant mediator in the relationship between racism related stress, self-esteem, and coping. Neither generational status nor racial socialization experiences moderated this relationship. Implications of these findings for research and clinical intervention with Asian Indians are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural mistrust, opinions about mental illness, and Black students' attitudes toward seeking psychological help from White counselors.

Examined the relationship among mistrust of Whites, opinions about mental illness, and help-seeking attitudes among 105 Black college students. Participants completed the Cultural Mistrust Inventory (F. Terrell and S. L. Terrell; see record 1982-29464-001), the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale, the Help-Seeking Attitude Scale (R. Plotkin, unpublished), and the Reid-Gundlach Social Service Satisfaction Scale (P. N. Reid and J. H. Gundlach, 1983). The hypothesis that higher levels of cultural mistrust would predict negative help-seeking attitudes was generally supported through regression analyses. Greater mistrust of Whites was associated with more negative general attitudes about seeking help from clinics staffed primarily by Whites and with an expectation that the services rendered by White counselors would be less satisfactory. Limitations of this study, as well as implications and recommendations for future research and practice, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial costs of racism to Whites: Understanding patterns among university students.

This investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (PCRW), which refer to consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. Extending research that identified 5 distinct constellations of costs of racism (L. B. Spanierman, V. P. Poteat, A. M. Beer, & P. I. Armstrong, 2006), the authors used multinomial logistic regression in the current study to examine what factors related to membership in 1 of the 5 PCRW types during the course of an academic year. Among a sample of White university freshmen (n = 287), the authors found that (a) diversity attitudes (i.e., universal diverse orientation and unawareness of privilege) explained PCRW type at entrance, (b) PCRW type at entrance explained participation in interracial friendships at the end of the year, (c) 45% of participants changed PCRW type during the course of the year, and (d) among those who changed type, particular PCRW types at entrance resulted in greater likelihood of membership in particular PCRW types at the end of the year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between self-esteem and self-disclosure of negative information

Although self-disclosure after a negative experience may be good for our adjustment, we also feel hesitant to do so. This study investigated the relationship between self-esteem and hesitancy to disclose negative information about one's self. One hundred and fifty-five undergraduates imagined self-disclosure to a friend of high or low intimacy. They then answered a questionnaire concerning hesitancy to self-disclose negative information to friends, as well as expected negative consequences of such self-disclosure. Main results were: (1) Low intimacy strongly affected the hesitancy. (2) Factor analysis of the negative consequences found three factors: interpersonal and intra-personal negative-effect, and no positive expectation. (3) Hesitancy of high self-esteem students was most affected by the interpersonal factor. Impression management may be the reason. (4) On the other hand, low students tended to feel hurt after negative self-disclosure. Theirs was affected by the intra-personal and no positive expectation factors. Defensiveness may be the reason. The results were discussed from the viewpoint of adjustment when people have had a negative experience.