Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University.
Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago.
Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2018 Jan;24(1):26-39. doi: 10.1037/cdp0000144. Epub 2017 Jun 26.
The current study investigates the utility of political activism as a protective factor against experiences of racial/ethnic (R/E) discrimination that negatively affect stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among Black and Latinx college freshmen at predominately White institutions.
Data come from the Minority College Cohort Study, a longitudinal investigation of Black and Latinx college students (N = 504; 44% Black). We conducted multiple regression analyses for each mental health indicator and tested for interaction effects.
For Black and Latinx students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of freshman year stress varied by political activism. For Black students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of the year anxiety varied by political activism. There was a significant interaction effect for depressive symptoms among Latinx students.
Political activism serves as a protective factor to mitigate the negative effect of R/E discrimination on stress and depressive symptoms for Latinx students. For Black students, higher levels of political activism may exacerbate experiences of R/E microaggressions and relate to more stress and anxiety compared with Black students who are less politically involved. Findings point to the need for a deeper understanding of phenomenological variation in experiences of microaggressions among R/E minorities and how students leverage political activism as an adaptive coping strategy to mitigate race-related stress during college. (PsycINFO Database Record
本研究调查了政治行动主义作为一种保护因素的效用，以防止黑人和拉丁裔大一新生在以白人为主的院校中经历的种族/族裔（R/E）歧视，这些歧视会对他们的压力、焦虑和抑郁症状产生负面影响。
数据来自少数民族大学队列研究，这是一项对黑人和拉丁裔大学生（N=504；44%为黑人）的纵向调查。我们对每个心理健康指标进行了多元回归分析，并测试了交互效应。
对于黑人和拉丁裔学生，R/E 微侵犯与大一结束时的压力之间的关系因政治行动主义而异。对于黑人学生，R/E 微侵犯与年末焦虑之间的关系因政治行动主义而异。拉丁裔学生的抑郁症状存在显著的交互效应。
政治行动主义是一种保护因素，可以减轻 R/E 歧视对拉丁裔学生的压力和抑郁症状的负面影响。对于黑人学生来说，较高水平的政治行动主义可能会加剧他们经历的 R/E 微侵犯，并与较少参与政治的黑人学生相比，导致更多的压力和焦虑。研究结果表明，需要更深入地了解 R/E 少数群体在微侵犯方面的经验现象学差异，以及学生如何利用政治行动主义作为一种适应策略来减轻大学期间与种族相关的压力。
