Interpersonal Relationships and Attachment in Ethnic and Racial Minorities: the Influence of Discrimination and Trauma

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Discrimination, as described by Thoits (2010), is an unfair or unjust treatment based on a person’s gender, race, ethnicity, social class, etc. The deleterious effects of discrimination on ethnic/racial minorities has been extensively documented (Pascoe & Richman, 2009). From a cultural developmental psychopathology framework (Causadias & Cicchetti, 2018), the effects of discrimination on psychopathology are likely mitigated by normative developmental processes. One potential key developmental outcome may be attachment. Bowlby (1969) postulated that attachment behaviors formulate during childhood as adaptive methods to increase the probability of survival. Given attachment theory has suggested that certain social conditions can influence the establishment of healthy and unhealthy types of love (Hazan et al., 1987), we postulate that years of systemic racism and discrimination can result in generational cycles of unhealthy relationships further perpetuating the development of insecure attachment in ethnic/racial minorities, even after controlling for other traumatic experiences.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the experience of discrimination, trauma, and attachment dimensions (i.e., anxious and avoidant) to evaluate how discrimination and trauma influence interpersonal relationships among ethnic/racial minorities. The current study drew on a subsample of 8,309 college students (72.8% female; Mage = 19.94 years, 18-29, SD = 2.01) from the Multi-Site University Study of Identity and Culture (see Castillo & Schwartz, 2013). Towards this end, we estimated separate regressions across ethnic/racial groups (i.e., Blacks, East Asians, and Hispanics) to examine the differential effect of discrimination and trauma on avoidant and anxious attachment, respectively. Age and gender were controlled for across all models.

Results indicated discrimination and trauma significantly contributed to the prediction of anxious attachment in Black college students, F(4, 207) = 4.14, p = .003, R2 = .074; East Asian college students, F(4, 477) = 3.61, p = .007, R2 = .029; and Hispanic college students, F(4, 352) = 4.53, p = .001, R2 = .049. Further, discrimination was a significant predictor of anxious attachment in Blacks (β = .068, t(211) = 3.77, p < .001), East Asians (β = .027, t(481) = 2.68, p = .008), and Hispanics (β = .028, t(356) = 2.13, p = .034) college students. Trauma was only found to predict anxious attachment in Hispanic college students (β = .004, t(356) = 2.48, p = .001). Despite this, neither discrimination nor trauma emerged as a significant predictor of avoidant attachment across ethnic/racial minority college students.

The findings from this study may serve to fill the gap in the literature that speaks to the impact of discrimination on interpersonal relationships in minoritized persons. Indeed, discrimination was significantly associated with greater anxious attachment across all three ethnic/racial groups whereas trauma was only detrimental to Hispanic college students. Despite this, there was no significant association with avoidant attachment. An explanation for this may be the heightened perceived feelings of stress characterized by anxious attachment (Agostini et al., 2016), thus making discrimination more salient, and impactful on their relationships. The findings may help to elucidate meaningful connections of systematic racism and generational familial household instability.

Authors

• Kenneth L. Ayers, Old Dominion University
  Presenting Author

• Alan Meca, University of Texas at San Antonio
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julie Rodil, Old Dominion University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Isis Cowan, Old Dominion University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Talar Gober, Old Dominion University
  Non-Presenting Author