A Moderated Mediation Model: Racial Discrimination, Coping Strategies, and Racial Identity Among Black Adolescents

Prior studies have shown that in the U.S., perceptions of racial discrimination are commonly linked to lower life satisfaction levels, decreased self-esteem, and enhanced depressive symptoms among African American adolescents.

Despite the prevalence of these findings, few researchers have examined variables that might explain the processes with which perceptions of racial discrimination influence African American adolescents’ level of depression (mediators) and contextual factors (moderators) under which mediation occurs.

This study examined general coping strategies as mediators of the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and depression, and used dimensions of racial identity as moderators to provide additional tests for moderated mediation.

Results suggest that the use of avoidant coping strategies may mediate or help to explain, in part, why perceptions of racial discrimination are associated with increased depression among African American youth. Results also suggest that the mediated relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms through avoidant coping primarily occurs among African American adolescents who endorse what is known as an “oppressed minority” ideology.

Key Findings:

• African American adolescents with perceptions of racial discrimination are more likely to display depressive symptoms compared to those with few discriminatory experiences.
   
• Adolescents who use avoidant coping strategies, such that they avoid thinking about a problem(s) related to racial discrimination, tend to have high levels of depression.
  • Prior research has shown that avoidant coping is generally considered to be negative or maladaptive in terms of mental health. 
• Tests for mediation suggest that the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms is partially explained or mediated by avoidant coping.
  • This mediated relationship indicates that perceived racial discrimination is associated with increased depression, because discrimination is linked to using more avoidant coping strategies, which in turn, is related to increased depression. 
• Findings from moderated mediation models further show that the mediated relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms through the use of avoidant coping primarily occurred among African American adolescents with high levels of endorsement for oppressed minority ideology.
  • Racial identity (based on the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity or MIBI), is defined as the significance and meaning that individuals ascribe to being a member of their racial group.
     
  • Oppressed minority ideology is a dimension of racial identity that emphasizes the similarities between African Americans' experiences and those of other oppressed minority groups.
    • One possible explanation as to why avoidant coping strategies mediate or aid in explaining the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depression is that, when faced with racism, these youth (particularly youth who strongly endorse an oppressed minority ideology) perceive discrimination as being out of their control and react by avoiding the problem.
• Overall, results provide further insight into the processes and contexts with which African American youth cope with perceptions of racial discrimination and depression.

The study was prepared by faculty in the Developmental Psychology Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in collaboration with Dr. Rachel Upton, an AERA-AIR Postdoctoral Research Fellow. The study examined a sample of 314 African American adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18, and is currently featured in Child Development.

For more information about this study, contact Rachel Upton.