Does Religiosity Moderate the Impact of Racial Discrimination on Subjective Well-being for African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans?*

• In Event: 1580 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Religion, Health, and Well-being

Abstract

This study investigated religiosity’s ability to buffer racial discrimination’s negative influence on subjective well-being for both Afro-Caribbeans and African Americans. While research has acknowledged the positive effects of religiosity on subjective well-being, religiosity’s potential to buffer the influence of stressors on subjective well-being for U.S. blacks is limited. Investigations of multiple dimensions of religiosity that buffer the impact of major stressors for this group is limited. This study focused on a stressor that plagues the lives of both African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: racial discrimination. While religion plays a significant role in the lives of both groups, investigations into whether and which dimensions have the most protective impact on racial discrimination for subjective well-being is unclear. Using data from the National Survey of American Life, I found that as predicted, racial discrimination was inversely associated with all four measures of subjective well-being for African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans. Organizational religious involvement was related to better subjective well-being for African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans. An index of organizational religious involvement does not help protect subjective well-being for African Americans. However, being involved in organizational facets of religion is likely to alleviate the negative impact racial discrimination on happiness and life satisfaction for Afro-Caribbean immigrants, although it did not do so for Afro-Caribbean non-immigrants and African Americans.

Author

• Hans Momplaisir, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University