Positive and negative responses to personal discrimination: does coping make a difference?

Although researches (e.g., K. L. Dion, K. K. Dion, & A. W.-p. Pak, 1992) have associated perceiving personal discrimination with negative psychological symptoms, group consciousness theorists (e.g., S. L. Bartky, 1977) have suggested that perceiving personal discrimination can be empowering. To attempt to reconcile these presumably opposing findings, the author suggested that the method of coping with perceiving personal discrimination would better predict whether the outcomes are negative or positive than would the perception of personal discrimination alone. Female university students (N = 262) in the United States completed questionnaires assessing perceptions of personal discrimination, psychological symptoms, and psychosocial behaviors. Coping mechanisms predicted psychosocial behaviors better than did personal discrimination: The more the participants used social support to cope, the more collective action and less helplessness behavior they reported. Also, the more the participants used avoidance to cope, the more helplessness behavior they reported.