Poster #53 - The Moderating Effects of Avoidance Coping on the Mental Health and Adjustment of Black Women in College.

• In Event: Poster Session 11

Abstract

Recent conceptual models adopt an intersectional approach centering on marginalized identity stress (MIS) as a link between mental health and college student adjustment among Black students (Berjot and Gillet, 2011). Avoidance coping has been recognized as a culture-salient coping strategy for black students navigating race-related stressors in college environments (Shahid, 2017). Research has emphasized the utility of avoidance coping in reducing and minimizing the severity of general and marginalized stress and related links to mental health (Greer and Brown, 2011). For black women in college, culture-salient coping strategies, may moderate the effects of MIS and related dimensions of mental health on adjustment (Drakeford, 2017; Shahid, 2017). The current study examines the moderating effects of avoidance coping on the relationship between mental health and exhaustion (anxiety, psychological distress, and academic exhaustion) and adjustment for black women in college.



Method

Black female undergraduate students (N = 72, Mage = 20.85, SD = 1.56) were recruited from a large public university in the northeastern region of the United States as part of a larger study on college adjustment.

Avoidance Coping. Avoidance coping was captured using the brief version of the COPE self-report questionnaire (Carver et al., 2019; Poulus et al., 2020)

Academic Exhaustion. Academic exhaustion was measured using items from the subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBIS-S) (Maslach & Jackson, 1981).

Anxiety. Anxiety was captured using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (Beck, 1993).

Psychological Distress. Psychological Distress was measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) (Kessler et al., 2002).

College Adjustment. College Adjustment was captured with a brief version of the Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire (SACQ) using assessment items from each of the four subscales (Baker and Siryk 1986).


The PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013) Model 1 for SPSS was used to examine interactions between the moderator (avoidance coping) on the relationship between mental health (anxiety, psychological distress, and academic exhaustion) on college adjustment.

Results

Findings revealed that the negative association of mental health with college adjustment was more apparent at moderate levels of avoidance coping in black female students who reported academic exhaustion (B = -.53, p < .001), anxiety (B = -.04, p <.0001), and psychological distress (B = -.07, p <.0001), than at low levels of avoidance coping in students who reported academic exhaustion (B = -.26, p = .01), anxiety (B = -.02, p < .001), and psychological distress (B = -.04, p < .0001). However, for students not experiencing mental distress or exhaustion, avoidance coping negatively retained a negative association with college adjustment. Findings reveal that moderate adoption of avoidance coping may reduce negative effects of mental distress and exhaustion on adjustment for black college women. Results emphasize the necessity of future research on the effects of avoidance coping on black college womens' mental health and college adjustment.

Authors

• Jay Bradford, Temple University
  Presenting Author

• Ronald D Taylor, Temple University