Racial Discrimination, Psychological Functioning, and the Moderating Role of High-Effort Coping among African American Youth

• In Event: 1-129 - Factors that Influence the Experiences of Racial Discrimination: From Individual and Contextual Lenses

Integrative Statement

Racial discrimination is a stressor in the lives of African American adolescents that often negatively impacts adolescent psychological functioning (Sellers et al., 2006). One strategy some African Americans use to cope with discrimination stress is exerting high levels of effort due to the belief that they must work harder than others in order to get ahead in life, referred to as high-effort coping (HEC; Bennet et al., 2004). While research shows HEC to be damaging to physiological functioning in African American adults (Bennett et al., 2004), some recent research has shown HEC to actually be beneficial to psychological functioning (Bronder, Speight, Witherspoon, & Thomas, 2014). The effects of HEC could differ by age; yet few studies have explored HEC in adolescence. Adolescents who cope with discrimination stress by exerting high effort may feel that they have some control over their outcomes and develop a high sense of efficacy and pride in themselves, which could buffer against the harmful effects of discrimination on mental health. Therefore, we hypothesized that adolescents who reported high levels of discrimination experiences and HEC would exhibit lower levels of depressive symptoms, anger, and suicide ideation. We also expected this association to be moderated by gender.
The sample included 495 African American adolescents (49% female) from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study. Adolescents completed surveys and interviews in 8th grade and 11th grade. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted with adolescents’ 8th grade school-related discrimination experiences (8 items, α = .90), 8th grade high-effort coping (i.e., having to work harder and better than others because of their race; 2 items, α = .83), and gender as independent variables. Family income and mother’s education level were covariates. Separate regression analyses were conducted for the dependent variables of 11th grade anger, depression, and suicide ideation. Significant interactions were probed to test simple slopes and significant differences between slopes using procedures described by Aiken and West (1991) and Dawson and Richter (2006).
For depression, there was a significant 3-way interaction (β= -.17, p = .026) with discrimination, high-effort coping, and gender. Girls with low HEC had more depressive symptoms as discrimination experiences increased (t = 3.893, p < .001). Their slope differed from high-HEC girls (t = -2.440, p = .015; see Figure 1). For anger, there was also a significant 3-way interaction (β= -.44, p = .001). Girls with low HEC had higher levels of anger as they increased in discrimination experiences (t = 4.893, p < .001). Their slope significantly differed from high-HEC girls (t = -3.872, p < .001) and boys (see Figure 2). For suicide ideation, there was a significant 2-way interaction with HEC and discrimination (β= -.10, p = .044). Among adolescents with low HEC, discrimination was positively associated with suicide ideation (t = 3.288, p = .001).
The results suggest that HEC can be protective against the negative effects of discrimination on psychological functioning for African American youth.

Authors

• Elizabeth Jelsma, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Fatima varner, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author