Louis Courtney C, Buchanan NiCole T, Moser Jason S
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States.
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, United States.
J Mood Anxiety Disord. 2024 Apr 20;7:100070. doi: 10.1016/j.xjmad.2024.100070. eCollection 2024 Sep.
A recent study found that attentional control is a key mechanism that accounts for the association between discriminatory experiences and health outcomes in Black women. We replicate and extend this finding by testing the mediating role of attentional control in the association between discrimination and symptoms of anxiety and depression symptoms. A total of 128 Black women completed an online survey that assessed experiences of discrimination, anxiety, depression and attentional control. Three models were conducted to examine associations between experiences of discrimination and three outcomes (worry, anxious arousal, and anhedonic depression), and whether attentional control mediated these effects. Our findings revealed that more frequent discrimination predicted less attentional control and heightened anxiety symptoms. In support of our hypotheses, we found that attentional control mediated the association between discrimination and anxious arousal and anhedonic depression. Attentional control did not mediate the association between experiences of discrimination and worry, however. Our findings dovetail with previous research suggesting that experiences of discrimination tax prefrontal regions associated with attentional control and could be a pathway that leads to somatic anxiety and depression. Our findings also amplify the need to assess experiences of discrimination in therapeutic assessment and intervention with Black women.
最近的一项研究发现，注意力控制是解释黑人女性歧视经历与健康结果之间关联的关键机制。我们通过测试注意力控制在歧视与焦虑和抑郁症状之间关联中的中介作用，复制并扩展了这一发现。共有128名黑人女性完成了一项在线调查，该调查评估了歧视经历、焦虑、抑郁和注意力控制情况。进行了三个模型来检验歧视经历与三种结果（担忧、焦虑唤醒和快感缺失性抑郁）之间的关联，以及注意力控制是否介导了这些影响。我们的研究结果显示，更频繁的歧视预示着注意力控制能力下降和焦虑症状加剧。支持我们的假设的是，我们发现注意力控制介导了歧视与焦虑唤醒和快感缺失性抑郁之间的关联。然而，注意力控制并未介导歧视经历与担忧之间的关联。我们的研究结果与先前的研究相吻合，表明歧视经历会消耗与注意力控制相关的前额叶区域，并且可能是导致躯体焦虑和抑郁的一条途径。我们的研究结果还进一步凸显了在对黑人女性进行治疗评估和干预时评估歧视经历的必要性。
