Racial Barrier Messages as a Buffer to Racial Discrimination Stress

• In Event: Ethnic Racial Socialization

Abstract

Emerging adulthood is a period of psychosocial development, where young adults engage in identity exploration, cognitive maturation and social development (Masten et al., 2006). Self-efficacy, defined as one’s belief in the capacity to achieve their desired goals through adversity, is important during this time, as individuals make future plans independently for the first time (Buchanan & Selmon, 2008). Experiences with and the impact of racial discrimination complicates the emerging adulthood period for African Americans (Arnett, 2006). Research has linked racial discrimination with a range of negative consequences for African American emerging adults, including adverse physiological, psychological, and sociopolitical consequences, including lower self-efficacy (Hope, Hoggard, & Thomas, 2015; Hughes & Demo, 1989). Previous research has focused typically on the frequency of racial discrimination, assuming that more frequent experiences of discrimination are directly related to traumatic stress responses (Carter, 2007). It has been posited, though, that the damage to wellbeing may more accurately be attributed to the interaction of the frequency of racial discrimination experiences and the stress associated with the encounters (Essed, 1991). Analyzing discrimination as the interaction of the frequency and stress of discriminatory experiences offer research more information than they do independently, which is important in understanding individual differences in how racial discrimination is internalized. Ethnic-racial socialization, or messages parents share with their children about the realities of being African American in the American context, are theorized to serve a protective role on the psychological functioning for individuals (Lesane-Brown. 2006; Murry et al., 2018). Research has found that racial barrier messages—messages that prepare children for racial prejudice—can buffer the negative consequences of racial discrimination on the psychological wellbeing of African Americans (Hughes et al., 2006). The current study investigated whether racial barrier messages buffered the proposed robust measure of racial discrimination on self-efficacy for African American emerging adults. A sample of 452 African American college students from a large minority-serving research institution participated in the study (Mage = 18.61; 80% female). Results indicated that higher racial discrimination stress was related to lower self-efficacy (β = -0.13, p < .01). Racial barrier messages buffered the relationship between racial discrimination and self-efficacy (b = 0.02, p = .05). Specifically, at lower levels of racial barrier messages, there was a significant relationship between racial discrimination stress and self-efficacy. But, at higher levels of racial barrier messages, a significant relationship was not present. This study emphasizes the potential benefit of using a more robust measure of racial discrimination stress as well as suggests the positive influence of racial barrier messages in supporting normative development despite experiences and the stress of racial discrimination for African American emerging adults.

Authors

• Asha Jimenez, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Ciara Smalls Glover, Georgia State University
  Non-Presenting Author