Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and
Dissertations
2019
Does racial identity explain the buffering impact of
racial socialization on discrimination?
Nellie Moualeu
Iowa State University
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Recommended Citation
Moualeu, Nellie, “Does racial identity explain the buffering impact of racial socialization on discrimination?” (2019). Graduate Theses
and Dissertations. 17062.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/17062
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 ……………………………………………………………..
1
Overview
……………………………………………………………………………………….
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……………………………………………………………………
11
Racial Identity ………………………………………………………………………………..
12
Racial Socialization ………………………………………………………………………..
21
The Problem
……………………………………………………………………………………….
26
Present Study ………………………………………………………………………………………
28
Figure 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………….
30
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………..
31
Participants………………………………………………………………………………………….
31
Procedure ……………………………………………………………………………………………
32
Measures
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
33
Data Analysis Plan ……………………………………………………………………………….
36
Table 1 …………………………………………………………………………………………
38
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS
………………………………………………………………………..
39
Preliminary analyses……………………………………………………………………………..
39
Table 2 …………………………………………………………………………………………
40
Table 3 …………………………………………………………………………………………
41
Main analyses
……………………………………………………………………………………..
42
Table 4 …………………………………………………………………………………………
42
Table 5 …………………………………………………………………………………………
43
Table 6 …………………………………………………………………………………………
44
Figure 2 ………………………………………………………………………………………..
47
Post hoc analyses
…………………………………………………………………………………
48
Table 7 …………………………………………………………………………………………
49
Table 8 …………………………………………………………………………………………
50
Table 9 …………………………………………………………………………………………
51
iii
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION
……………………………………………………………………
52
Limitations and Future Directions …………………………………………………………..
59
Conclusions
………………………………………………………………………………………..
62
REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………………
63
APPENDIX A. PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION SCALE …………………………….
69
APPENDIX B. RACIAL SOCIALIZATION SCALE …………………………………….
70
APPENDIX C. BLACK PRIDE SCALE
……………………………………………………….
71
APPENDIX D. DEPRESSION SCALE ………………………………………………………..
72
APPENDIX E. SELF-ESTEEM SCALE
……………………………………………………….
73
APPENDIX F. EDUCATION ACHIEVED …………………………………………………..
73
APPENDIX G. SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS ……………………………………………
74
APPENDIX H. UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA IRB APPROVAL
……………………..
75
APPENDIX I. 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.,
1995; Krieger & Sidney, 1996). 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., 2009).
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.
(Wilson & Rodgers, 2016, p.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., 2013). 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 = -.22), and adults
(r = -.23). Furthermore, when comparing cross-sectional data against longitudinal data, the
4
researchers noted that considering that the effect sizes were significantly different (r = -.23 and r
= -.15, respectively), the mean weighted effect size for longitudinal data was still significant at p
< .05. 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. 125-126). 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.
The Current Study
The present study sought to build upon the existing research by not only examining the
direct relationship between racial socialization and racial identity but also their relationship with
the discrimination to distress link over time. Using three waves of data from the Family and
Community Health Study (FACHS), an ongoing investigation on the impact of social factors on
the well-being of African American families and communities, I examined 1) the direct
relationships between reports of perceived discrimination, racial socialization, racial identity, and
three outcome variables including depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and educational
achievement over a period of six years; 2) the moderating effects of both racial socialization and
racial identity over time; and 3) the indirect impact of racial socialization on the discrimination
to distress link, considering racial identity as a potential mediator.
7
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
…daily the negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as
protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. (W.E.B. DuBois,
1903, p. 176)
Since 1903, the United States (U.S.) has taken progressive strides towards a more just
and equal society. Still, many of the sentiments of inequality, oppression, and feelings of
inferiority expressed by Du Bois in 1903 apply to the African American population today (R.
Clark, Anderson, V. Clark, & Williams, 1999; Feagin, 1991; Pieterse, Todd, Neville, & Carter
2012). As evidenced by the emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement after the death of
Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, and the more recent White Supremacists protest in
Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, it is clear that despite apparent societal progress, Black
communities in the US continue to experience racism. This, however, looks qualitatively
different today than it did in 1903. Today’s society no longer tolerates overt acts of racism (e.g.,
segregation laws, the use of racial slurs); however, covert racism is a practice that is pervasive in
our society today. It manifests itself not only in individuals' attitudes and stereotypes but also in
the basic structure of society (Alexander, 2010; Gee & Ford 2011). Research consistently
demonstrates that there exist serious persistent disparities and injustice in employment, poverty
rate, education, criminal convictions, and health between Black and White communities (D. W.
Sue & D. Sue, 2015; The National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO),
2006). Due to the structural infusion of racism into society, marginalized groups must confront
such discriminatory attitudes, laws, and regulations on a day-to-day basis. This confrontation has
8
been linked to increased levels of stress in these populations (Viruella-Fuentes, Miranda, &
Abdurahim, 2012).
Discrimination as Stress
Stress, according to Lazarus & Folkman (1984), derives from a set of experiences
appraised as taxing or exceeding one's resources for managing them, thus impinging upon an
individual's wellbeing. Experiences are often appraised as stressful if they are ambiguous,
negative, unpredictable, and/or uncontrollable (Carter, 2007; Williams & Mohammed, 2009).
Unfortunately, ambiguity, negativity, unpredictability, and lack of control are common
characteristics of racially discriminatory interactions (Pascoe & Richman, 2009). Therefore,
racism has been considered an important and chronic stressor for African-Americans (Clark et al.
1999). Exposure to such chronic and pervasive stress would be expected to have a considerable
negative impact on African-Americans' mental and physical health.
For decades, African Americans have exhibited poorer health when compared to their
European American counterparts. African American families suffer from lower birth weight,
higher infant mortality rates, shorter life expectancies, higher risk of heart disease (Allison, 1998;
Flack, 1995), and increased psychological stress responses (Anderson, McNeilly, & Myers,
1993) when compared to their European-American counterparts (Braveman, 2011; Major,
Quinto, & McCoy, 2002). These health disparities are not just a result of poverty, lack of
education, or poor life choices. Other factors are certainly at play. Racial discrimination is a
prime suspect and has been directly related to negative health outcomes for African-Americans.
In the medical field, for example, differences in levels of blood pressure have been
evident between African American and European American populations since the late 1900s.
Researchers, with the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study,
9
were interested in understanding the role racial discrimination played in the blood pressure
disparity (Krieger & Sidney, 1996). Examining 4,089 participants, ages 25 to 37, across both
racial groups, the researchers evaluated perceived discrimination across seven settings (school,
job search, work, housing, medical care, public setting, and police and courts), four response
patterns (accept as fact of life and keep to self, accept as fact of life and talk to others, do
something about it and keep to self, do something about it and talk to others), and two social
strata (working class and executive/professional). Across all settings, African Americans
reported higher rates of unfair treatments and discrimination when compared to their White
counterparts. For example, 52% of African American women and 55% of African American men
reported experiencing racial discrimination at work when compared to 8% and 6% of their White
counterparts. The study found no differences in how the two groups responded to unfair
treatment. However, researchers noted an interaction effect between experiences of
discrimination and response patterns. Even after controlling for demographic factors including
age, education, marital status, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, alcohol consumption (all
factors believed to contribute to elevated high blood pressure), the study found that high blood
pressure was highest among 1) African Americans who did not report experiences of
discrimination, 2) African American women with reports of discrimination who accepted it as a
fact of life and kept it to themselves, and 3) African American men with reports of
discrimination who accepted it as a fact of life but talked to others. Because blood pressure was
highest among African Americans who did not report experiences of discrimination, we may
want to conclude that experiencing more discrimination may be physically beneficial. However,
this seems an unlikely conclusion. As the authors suggested, it is much more plausible that
individuals not reporting the discrimination may be internalizing it, thus putting them at higher
10
risk of suffering increased high blood pressure. The findings not only suggest a strong
association between discrimination and high blood pressure but also lend support to the idea that
individuals who internalize their responses to discrimination may suffer increased consequences
(Krieger & Sidney, 1996).
Even after controlling for moderating variables such as education, wealth, and
neighborhood impact, African American communities continue to suffer from higher infant
mortality rates and are at higher risk of developing chronic diseases when compared to
European-American communities (Braveman et al, 2011).
Given these findings, it would be easy to assume that all members of marginalized
groups, when faced with discrimination, will suffer from its deleterious effects. Current research,
however, does not support this assumption; rather, research indicates that there are individual
differences in responses to environmental stressors. Some African Americans do not respond to
discrimination as expected but appear to thrive despite it. Clark et al., (1999) highlighted the
"wide within-group variability in health outcomes among African Americans" noting that, when
exposed to similar discriminatory experiences, some African Americans may be more resilient
than others and thus suffer less deleterious effects (p. 806). As scientists worked to uncover these
differences, there was an apparent shift in perspective. "Rather than focusing on the vulnerability
of targets of prejudice, this perspective emphasized targets' psychological resilience and
hardiness and focused on their methods of adaptation and resistance" (Major et al., 2002, p.253).
This new perspective saw marginalized individuals as agents actively negotiating their degree of
exposure to racism and subsequent coping responses to maintain psychological well-being
(Major et al., 2002; Clark et al., 1999).
11
Coping with Discrimination
Thornton and Sanchez (2010) describe resilience as a “dynamic process that enables the
individual to respond or adapt under adverse situations” (p. 455). Resilience refers to the set of
learned and developed coping strategies that improve one’s ability to manage stress, enable
positive psychological development and functioning as well as continued competency, and lead
to recovery and improved mental status after a trauma (Connor & Davidson, 2003; Kirby &
Fraser, 2004; Thornton & Sanchez, 2010). Understanding resilience in the face of discrimination
is an important pursuit that can help to pinpoint protective factors that facilitate positive
psychological development in marginalized communities and highlight the intrapersonal
processes of those factors. One potentially important factor that promotes resilience in African-
American groups is group identification. Given the stress of discrimination and being a racial
minority group, African-Americans may benefit from and find solace in identification with their
racial group. This may help to protect against the effects of persistent and chronic discrimination.
Two variables under the group identification construct have received the most attention in
research as potential protective factors moderating the discrimination to distress link: racial
identity and racial socialization (Brondolo, Brady, Pencille, Beatty, & Contrada, 2009; Hughes et
al., 2006; Lee & Ahn, 2013; Pascoe & Richman, 2009). Both of these variables have
demonstrated effectiveness in buffering the deleterious effects of discrimination. Conceptually, a
strong racial identity provides African Americans with the historical and cultural knowledge of
their racial group, facilitating their understanding of their societal position (Pascoe & Richman,
2009). This provides Black individuals the ability to adequately cope with the many difficulties
that discrimination presents. For example, group identity may provide African-Americans a
mechanism for attributing discrimination to prejudice and not internalize it, which reduces
12
distress and stabilizes self-esteem. In turn, racial socialization is seen as the processes by which
one develops one's racial identity and thereby the coping strategies necessary to navigate and
negotiate such racial experiences. These two variables have long been conceptually linked,
however very few studies have specifically investigated their direct relationship.
Racial identity. Racial identity has been conceptualized in various ways over the past
half-century. The work arguably started with general concepts of identity development. Based on
Erikson's (1963) concepts of identity development through crisis and commitment, Marcia
(1966) proposed a model that included four statuses of general identity development. These four
statuses (Diffused, Foreclosed, Moratorium, Achieved) are based on two main premises: identity
exploration and commitment to identity's personal meaning. Individuals in the Diffused state
have neither begun the exploration process nor have committed to a specific definition of their
identity. Those in the Foreclosed state have committed to a specific identity based on societal
(especially familial) influences, and have done so without an exploration process. In the
Moratorium state, individuals are actively involved in the self-exploration process but have not
yet committed to an identity. Those in the Achieved state have explored a variety of identities
and have committed to a specific one. In his 1966 study, Marcia discovered that individuals in
the achieved state persevered longer under stressful conditions (indicating a higher a level of
resilience), maintained a realistic perspective on future goals, and were less vulnerable to
negative feedback, denoted by a smaller decrease in their self-esteem scores. Despite the fact that
the original study focused on occupational and ideological identity development, there existed a
high potential for its generalizability to development across different identities.
Curious to assess whether Marcia’s developmental model could also apply to ethnic and
racial identity development, Phinney (1989) constructed a set of questionnaires directly based on
13
Marcia’s model and interviewed 91 tenth-grade students in four different ethnic groups (Asian
Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans and European Americans). Participants
were also given questionnaires measuring their ego identity and their psychological adjustment.
Results revealed three distinct categories. Close to one-half of participants had not yet explored
their racial/ethnic identity (diffusion/foreclosure), close to one-quarter were actively exploring
(moratorium), and the other quarter had explored their racial/ethnic identity and were committed
to it (achieved). Here, an Achieved status described students who, through active exploration and
questioning, acquired knowledge and understanding of their in-groups’ social and cultural
backgrounds as well as demonstrated a “secure commitment to one’s group” (Phinney, 1966, p.
272). Furthermore, findings revealed that the highest scores in psychological adjustment were in
students in the Achieved status.
Another theoretical model specific to African Americans’ racial identity development is
the Nigrescence model (Cross, 1971). This five-stage model for Black identity development
includes the following stages: Pre-encounter, Encounter, Immersion-Emersion, Internalization,
and Internalization-Commitment, all of which describe the progression of Black individuals as
they “discover” their blackness. The Pre-encounter stage is meant to describe individuals
influenced by miseducation and self-hatred attitudes. This stage is generally characterized by low
race salience. The Encounter stage involves a subjective event that catapults an individual in a
state of internal turmoil and questioning, prompting them into the next stage, Immersion-
Emersion, where they begin exploring their racial identity. Finally, the Internalization stage
marks a point of reconciliation between the individual’s identities, including the Black identity,
and is characterized by high race salience (Vandiver, Fhagen-Smith, Cockley, Cross, & Worrell,
2001; Worrell, Vandiver, Schaefer, Cross, & Fhagen-Smith, 2006).
14
However, with stages, there is an implicit focus on the process of identity development
that does little to provide information as to its content and the meaning that individuals assign to
their race. Stage theories tend to assume a successful completion of a stage before advancement
to the next one. They attempt to explain how change happens (its process), but not what it
consists of (the content). One of the first attempts to describe the content of racial identity
development was offered by Sellers, Rowley, Chavous, Shelton, & Smith (1997). Their study
introduced the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI), which outlines four distinct
but interrelated dimensions of African American racial identity: Ideology, Regard, Centrality,
and Salience. Racial Ideology refers to an individual’s beliefs about how members of his/her
racial group should behave and comprises four subcategories: the Nationalist, the Oppressed
Minority, the Assimilationist, and the Humanist Ideologies. Racial Regard refers to the affective
judgment (i.e., the positive or negative feelings) individuals assign to their race (private), or
believe is assigned to their race by others (public). Racial Centrality refers to the importance an
African American puts on her/his race. And Racial Salience, which is highly dependent on racial
centrality, refers to the likelihood an individual will believe race to be an important factor in an
ambiguous interaction. The more central one's race is to one’s self-concept, the more salient it
will be when in ambiguous situations. Various combinations of the four dimension could provide
us with a more specific understanding of one's identity development. For example, it is probable
that two adolescents both at the Pre-Encounter stage but with different Racial Ideologies (one
with an Assimilationist identity, and the other with a Nationalist identity) might respond
differently when confronted with discrimination (i.e., Encounter stage). Given the two different
underlying worldviews or meaning-making styles in each ideology, we might assume that the
two adolescents will interpret the event differently. The youth with the Assimilationist identity
15
might internalize the experience, whereas the youth with a Nationalist identity, by definition,
would be more aware of the Black “national” experience in the U.S. and might be able to
attribute the experience to prejudice. The former response pattern has been linked to decreased
levels of self-esteem and increased distress, while the latter has demonstrated protective
attributes (Major et al., 2002; see also Miller & Kaiser, 2001; Schmitt and Branscombe, 2002)
As a result, the racial content of these two adolescents’ identities might determine how they
move from one stage to the next (Pre-Encounter to Encounter) and consequently lead to different
outcomes.
The role of group identification in racial identity development. To help us deepen our
understanding of the contents in identity development, let us explore foundational work in group-
identification focusing especially on Social Identity Theory and the Rejection-Identification
Model (RIM). Social Identity Theory (Taijfel & Turner 1979) assumes an innate desire of
“belonging”, and 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 views
social rejection as psychologically detrimental and argues that group-identification can help
buffer its deleterious impact. 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). Leach, Mosquera, Vliek, and Hirt (2010)
conducted three separate studies examining the impact of group devaluation on group-
identification. Studies 1 and 3 examined real-world groups (Jewish and Black populations
respectively), whereas Study 2 was a laboratory experiment examining the effect of feigned
evidence suggesting that psychology students at the University of Amsterdam were inferior to
16
students at a neighboring institution. Participants completed pre and post surveys measuring their
group identification before and after being presented with evidence of their in-group devaluation.
All studies provided direct support for the idea that perceived and actual group devaluation led to
stronger in-group identification, specifically by increasing individuals’ in-group satisfaction.
More importantly, Study 3 demonstrated that Black participants with higher pre-test
identification scores tended to feel greater out-group rejection, but reported lower vulnerability
scores. This study did not, however, explore the impact of higher group identification on the
discrimination to distress link. Nonetheless, its findings suggest that stronger group identification
might increase feelings of perceived discrimination, while simultaneously acting as a protective
factor by increasing psychological resilience (Leach et al., 2010).
Similarly, Giamo et al., (2012) hypothesized that perception of discrimination would
negatively impact participants’ life satisfaction scores, and tested whether group identification
mediated the relationship. The study, looking at 252 participants self-identified as multiracial,
not only provided supporting evidence for Leach et al. (2010), such that increased discrimination
led to increased group identification, but also revealed that specific dimensions of group
identification (namely, self-stereotyping) significantly correlated with higher life satisfaction
scores (Giamo et al., 2012). According to these results then, developing strong positive attitudes
towards one's in-group is instrumental in developing psychological resilience as it leads to
positive identity development and improved psychological well-being.
Racial identity as a protective factor for African Americans. Research consistently
demonstrates that racial identity plays an important role in the lives of African Americans. The
literature suggests that racial identity attenuates the effects of discrimination and racism, leading
to improved psychological health (Umana-Taylor, 2014; Utsey, 1997). In a 2003 study, Sellers,
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Caldwell, Schmeelk-Cone, and Zimmerman examined the relationship between two racial
identity attributes (Centrality and Public Racial Regard) and psychological distress. Their
research covered two waves (wave 4 and 5) of a longitudinal study of African American high
school students. By wave 5, these students were young adults averaging 20 years of age. Thirty-
two percent of this population was enrolled in a 2 or 4-year institution, while another 26 percent
reported not receiving a high school diploma. Assessing 555 African American young adults, the
researchers noted that greater racial centrality was associated with lower levels of distress, but
perceptions of public regard of one's race were not related to psychological distress.
Additionally, the researchers split participants into three different racial centrality groups (low,
medium, and high) and examined centrality as a moderator of three relationships: discrimination
to psychological distress, discrimination to stress, and stress to psychological distress. The
degree of racial centrality moderated the relationship between discrimination and stress such that
for those with high racial centrality, greater discrimination did not predict greater stress. These
results suggest that individuals for whom race is central were less likely to suffer the negative
effects of discrimination.
Similarly, in a 2013 meta-analysis, Lee and Ahn observed that private regard, racial
centrality, and Afrocentricity (i.e., the degree to which African Americans demonstrate pride
through the adoption of Afrocentric as opposed to Eurocentric, values, customs, and perspectives
[Vandiver et al. 2001]), were not only negatively related to psychological distress, but that this
relationship was greater in youth than it was in adults (Lee & Ahn, 2013). Their findings
highlight the negative relationship between racial identity and distress and suggest that this
relationship may be more important within African American youth. One way this relationship
may play out for African American youth is through the educational system. In a study of 606
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high school seniors, public racial regard was positively related to school attachment and
perceptions of school relevance (Chavous et al., 2003). Thus, the more students felt that others
had positive attitudes towards African Americans (i.e., Public Regard), the more attachment and
relevance they assigned to their institutions. In a follow-up survey assessing students’
educational attainments (high school attendance, high school completion, and college
attendance), only high racial centrality and private racial regard significantly predicted all three
outcomes two years later. While interpreting these findings, the authors suggest that inasmuch as
public regard may impact how students view and interact with their teachers, peers, and social
context, “it appears that youths’ own personal group attitudes and feelings about their group
[private regard] influence their educational behavior more strongly, regardless of their societal
views” (Chavous et al., 2003, p. 1086).
The support for racial identity as a moderating variable between perceived discrimination
and health outcomes is not uniform. In the same meta-analysis introduced above, the authors
examined the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and racial socialization on the
discrimination to distress link. Based on 27 studies comprising 70 effects sizes representing the
relationship between racial/ethnic identity and racial socialization and perceived discrimination,
and 43 effect sizes representing the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and racial
socialization and distress, the authors deemed the potential buffering effects of racial identity on
the discrimination to distress link "inconclusive" (p. 10). Their analyses revealed that not only
was racial identity significantly and negatively associated with distress, it was also significantly
and positively associated with perceived discrimination (Lee & Ahn, 2013).
Occasionally, a study offering supporting evidence for the buffering effects of group
identification (racial and/or ethnic), has also provided evidence to the contrary. In a study
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examining racial identity in Black Americans, for example, Sellers and Shelton (2003) found that
certain facets of racial identity, namely racial ideology and public regard, significantly buffered
the relationship between racial discrimination and psychological distress such that higher levels
of racial identity led to lower levels of distress. However, their study also demonstrated that a
greater endorsement of racial centrality, yet another facet of racial identity, was associated with
higher levels of perceived racial discrimination. In a study exploring the impact of ethnic identity
as a protective factor on depressive symptoms in an adult Latino population, one facet of ethnic
identity (exploration) was found to exacerbate the relation between discrimination and
depression, while another facet (commitment) was found to buffer that relationship (Torres &
Ong, 2010).
There are numerous possibilities that could help explain the contradictory nature of the
findings in this meta-analysis. First, the variability in findings could be due to differences in
construct measurements. Lee and Ahn (2013) noted: "significant measure differences among the
established racial identity measures (RIAS-B, CRIS, MIBI)" (p. 10). For example, the
relationship between racial discrimination and subscales of racial identity indicating African
American's affiliation with their in-group's culture (e.g., Afrocentricity, racial centrality, private
regard) was significant when measured by the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS), but not by the
Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI). Yet, the relationship between racial
discrimination and subscales of racial identity indicating African American's synergistic
awareness and appreciation of their own in-group as well as others' (e.g., internalization,
multiculturalist, minority) was significant when measured by MIBI, but not by CRIS. Although
these differences did not affect the overall direction of relationships of the constructs, they do
point to potentially conceptual and psychometric differences.
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Second, time may be an important moderator to consider. Of the studies included, none
were longitudinal. Longitudinal studies allow researchers to track the impact of constructs across
time, increase the validity of associations made, and as a result strengthen our causal claims.
Unfortunately, cross-sectional studies make up the bulk of this line of research. As a result, this
meta-analysis may simply be a representation of time-specific snapshots of an overarching
concept.
Finally, as mentioned above, there may be some inherent shortcomings in how we
conceptualize racial identity as a protective factor. An underlying assumption made in this field
of research is that perceived discrimination and distress have a unidirectional, positive linear
relationship where increases in perceived discrimination lead to greater distress. Possibly
because this relationship has received much support in the literature, it has unfortunately been
generalized to relationships involving protective factors. Meaning, there is an apparent unwritten
yet underlying assumption in this field that for a protective factor to act as a buffering agent, it
must be negatively associated with both perceived discrimination and distress. However, as
evinced in the aforementioned meta-analysis this is not always the case.
In one of the few longitudinal studies, examining the impact of different dimensions of
racial identity on perceived discrimination, researchers assessed 267 African American
university students' racial ideology and racial regard across two time points (Sellers & Shelton,
2003). The study demonstrated that even though both of these variables buffered the
discrimination to distress link, appreciating the multidimensional complexity of these variables is
of importance. For example, analyses of racial ideology and racial regard revealed that
individuals who endorsed a nationalist ideology and low public regard also reported higher
frequencies of racial discrimination, and were simultaneously buffered from its negative impact
