Neighborhood Racial Composition,Racial Discrimination,and Depressive Symptoms in African Americans

While evidence indicates that experienced racial discrimination is associated with increased depressive symptoms for African Americans, there is little research investigating predictors of experienced racial discrimination. This paper examines neighborhood racial composition and sociodemographic factors as antecedents to experienced racial discrimination and resultant levels of depressive symptoms among African American adults. The sample included 505 socioeconomically-diverse African American adults from Baltimore, MD. Study data were obtained via self-report and geocoding of participant addresses based on 2010 census data. Study hypotheses were tested using multiple pathways within a longitudinal Structural Equation Model. Experienced racial discrimination was positively associated with age and sex such that older individuals and males experienced increased levels of racial discrimination. In addition, the percentage of White individuals residing in a neighborhood was positively associated with levels of experienced racial discrimination for African American neighborhood residents. Experienced racial discrimination was positively associated with later depressive symptoms. Neighborhood-level contextual factors such as neighborhood racial composition and individual differences in sociodemographic characteristics appear to play an important role in the experience of racial discrimination and the etiology of depression in African American adults.     

Religiousness and Depressive Symptoms in Five Ethnic Adolescent Groups

This study examined the relation between religiousness and depressive symptoms in African American, Asian American, European American, Hispanic American, and Native American adolescents (N = 13,317) in the United States with self-esteem and school attachment as potential mediators in this link. The data were taken from a nationally represented sample of adolescents in Grades 7 through 12, from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Structural equation analyses with measurement and structural invariance across the five ethnic groups and gender supported the model that religiousness, as a composite of internal and external religiousness items, negatively predicted depressive symptoms 1 year later controlling for baseline depressive symptoms. Self-esteem and school attachment partially mediated this link but only for European American and African American adolescents.     

Student Perceptions of Campus Cultural Climate by Race

Five hundred and seventy-eight African American, Asian American, Latino/a, and White undergraduates responded to a questionnaire assessing perceptions and experiences of the campus cultural climate. Results revealed significant differences between racial and ethnic groups on multiple dimensions of the campus cultural climate. African American students consistently reported significantly more racial—ethnic conflict on campus; pressure to conform to stereotypes; and less equitable treatment by faculty, staff, and teaching assistants. White students' responses reflected limited perceptions of racial—ethnic tensions and a university climate characterized by respect for diversity. Counseling implications are presented.     

A Change is Gonna Come: Generational Membership and White Racial Attitudes in the 21st Century

The election of President Barack Obama offers a unique opportunity to test the impressionable‐years hypothesis—the theory of political socialization that predicts that widely experienced political events can have a lasting impact on the political attitudes of individuals who experience that event in their youth, thereby creating a generational distinction. Using data from an original survey embedded in the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we examine the racial attitudes of White youth who came of age during Barack Obama's presidential campaign and election to see if those individuals are significantly more liberal on racial attitudes than older generations of Whites. In other words, we look for early evidence that an “Obama generation” has emerged. We find there are indeed early signs of a generational distinction. Members of the “Obama generation” are more strongly opposed to racial resentment, but they exhibit similar levels of opposition to old‐fashioned racism as older cohorts. Additionally, we uncover that the factors that traditionally structure racial attitudes among Whites, most notably contact, education, and residential proximity, work quite differently for members of this generation. We take these findings as initial evidence that Barack Obama's presidency will have a lasting impact on the racial views of a generation of Americans.     

Religiousness, Spiritual Seeking, and Authoritarianism: Findings from a Longitudinal Study

We use long-term longitudinal data from a sample (N = 155) of older age mainline Protestants, Catholics, and a small number of conservative Protestants to investigate the relations among church-centered religiousness, spiritual seeking, and authoritarianism. In late adulthood, religiousness was related positively, and spiritual seeking was related negatively, to authoritarianism; these relations held even after excluding conservative Protestants and controlling for education, gender, age cohort, and personal flexibility. We find a similar pattern using measures of religiousness, spiritual seeking, and control variables scored in early adulthood, a time interval of close to 40 years.     

Perceptions of Race and Race Relations Which Affect African American Identification1

This study examined life experience and demographic variables which impact on racial identification. One hundred and sixty-two African American adults. including 62 males and 100 females, were interviewed to identify and determine the importance of demographic versus life experience variables with respect to the level of African American racial identification. The data were collected utilizing a structured interview protocol and a 31-item racial identification questionnaire. Information on experiences with race relations, income, education. political and social activities. the level and quality of intra-group interaction. and the orientation of subjects on three parameters of racial identification-psychological. physical, and sociocultural—was collected. The results indicate that perceived experiences of racism have an important impact on each parameter of racial identification. Within-group conflict variables have their greatest impact on the physical parameter and within-group interaction has its greatest impact on psychological racial identification.     

Influences of stereotype and social distance on prejudice toward African Americans

The study sought to identify the influential factors of stereotypes, social distance, and prejudice toward racial/ethnic minorities in the United States. We used data from the American General Social Survey (GSS) of 2012, and analysed the data of 4 820 individuals (3 700 Caucasians, 722 African Americans, and 398 others; males?=?44.2%, females?=?55.8%). Data were analysed using the SPSS 18.0 Statistics Program. In order to test for differences in racial prejudice by demographic characteristics by stereotyping and social distancing, we utilised variance and regression analyses procedures. Results suggest that stereotypes and social distance effects on prejudice toward African Americans vary according to ethnicity, gender, age, education, and income. Specifically, older and less-educated white males were more prejudiced toward African Americans than were individuals from other sociodemographic groupings. There was a direct relationship between the holding of stereotypical views and social distance, in that those who showed higher levels of stereotyping maintained a greater social distance from African Americans and showed greater implicit prejudice toward them. Racism toward African Americans remains a major social concern in the USA, and is largely influenced by sociodemographic factors.     

Wading through the stereotypes: positive and negative associations between media use and black adolescents' conceptions of self

Although concern is often expressed that frequent media exposure may adversely affect the self-esteem and racial self-esteem of African American youths, evidence to support this assumption has been limited. To examine this issue, the author collected data among 156 African American high school students, testing connections among racial self-esteem, three dimensions of self-esteem, and multiple forms of media use. Whereas initial comparisons revealed media use to be a negative correlate of self-esteem, further analysis demonstrated that this association varied depending on the media genre and the domain of self in question, the content of students' media diets, and the individual characteristics of the viewer. In addition, both stronger identification with popular Black characters and greater religiosity emerged as possible protective factors.     

Views of Aging African American Women: Memories Within the Historical Context

This article examines the generational experiences of older African American women using case studies of two women born in 1911. Through the telling of their life stories, these women recount their memories of their own lives. By viewing their life histories within the larger historical context, we gain a clearer understanding of their life experiences and their perspectives as older African American women. These women lived through the Jim Crow era of blatant racial discrimination and segregation in the South and raised their children in this environment. The segregation statutes, or Jim Crow laws, were the public symbols and constant reminders of the subordinate position assigned to African Americans, and the code lent the sanction of law to a racial separation that extended to churches, schools, housing, jobs, eating and drinking. Using a lifecourse perspective, the past is viewed within the context of the present, considering historical and cohort factors that have affected the life situation of individuals. Through the women's telling of their life stories, they outline the chapters of their lives and describe how their experiences have made them the strong older women they are today and helped shape their values.     

Race and Nation: How Racial Hierarchy Shapes National Attachments

We contend that the boundaries and nature of national attachments are shaped by the position of one's group within America's racial order, with higher status yielding more racially exclusive forms of identity. We test our claims in the realm of xenophobia. Using an original survey of African Americans (n = 1,000) and Whites (n = 1,000), we assess national pride, nationalism, nativism, and racial identity, plus affect toward various immigrant groups. We establish that national attachments have racially varied meanings, thereby producing sharp differences in each racial group's response to foreigners. Although national pride is unrelated to White antipathy toward outsiders, nationalism and nativism increase White hostility to immigrants—except when they are White. In contrast, national pride diminishes African American hostility to Black and non‐Black immigrants, while nativism is generally unrelated to Black antipathy to outsiders. Finally, while nationalism heightens xenophobia among Blacks, this sentiment envelops all foreigners—including African immigrants. We discuss our results' implications for theories of national attachment in intergroup settings.     

Family,public and private religiousness and psychological well-being over time in at-risk adolescents

Positive effects of different dimensions of religiousness (including private, public and familial) on well-being as well as the stress buffering effects of religiousness have been documented. However, relatively little research has explored how these different facets of religiousness are related to psychological well-being in at-risk adolescents. This study examined family, public and private religiousness and their protective influence on psychological adjustment in adolescents at risk for poor psychological and behavioural outcomes. Participants include 186 urban teens divided between African Americans and European Americans. Structured interviews assessed religiousness, stress, as well as change in emotional distress and substance abuse problems over a one-year period. Greater private religiousness protects adolescents exposed to higher levels of stress from emotional and behavioural problems. In contrast, higher levels of family religiousness exacerbate emotional problems over time in adolescents exposed to greater stress. Findings demonstrate the complex influence of religiousness on psychological well-being in adolescence.     

The Existential Function of Intrinsic Religiousness: Moderation of Effects of Priming Religion on Intercultural Tolerance and Afterlife Anxiety

Managing existential concerns is theorized to be a key function of religion. We posit that priming religion should be related to greater existential security for those high in intrinsic religiosity. In Experiment 1, priming religion increased intercultural tolerance among individuals who were highly intrinsically religious but decreased it for those low in intrinsic religiousness. In Experiment 2, intrinsic religiousness again moderated the effects of the prime, suggesting that priming religion resulted in attenuated afterlife anxiety for intrinsically religious individuals but greater anxiety for individuals low in intrinsic religiousness. Religious reminders appeared to provide existential security—evidenced by tolerance and reduced death anxiety—only to those high in intrinsic religiousness and can be threatening to those low in intrinsic religiousness. Existential outcomes are a specific case in which intrinsic religiousness can moderate the effects of religious primes, suggesting that religion plays a different existential role for different people.     

Adult age, gender, and race group differences in images of aging

Younger and older African American and Caucasian American adults, who were matched by age (M age = 40.63 years), completed a survey on perceptions of aging and subjective age. The 2 groups did not differ in the age they considered someone to be old (M age = 74.5 years). However, when asked which age was the happiest age, African Americans chose a significantly younger age (M age = 18.26 years) than did Caucasian Americans (M age = 31.32 years), and this racial group difference interacted with age differences such that older Caucasian Americans named an older age than did younger Caucasian Americans. The authors found no such age difference for African Americans. When asked if old age was a happy time, 60% of Caucasian Americans answered yes, whereas only 2% of African Americans answered yes. These and other differences in images and concerns of old age and subjective age suggest a far more negative view of aging for African Americans and a need for changes in the provision of positive information about aging for this group.     

So Why Do You Think That Way?: Examining the Role Implicit Attitudes and Motivation Play in Audience’s Perception of a Racially Charged Issue

Events in Ferguson (MO), the Eric Garner incident, and most recently Chicago (IL), have again brought perceptions of race to the forefront of the public’s conscience. Often perceptions of racially charged events are split along racial lines with Whites often siding with law enforcement and Blacks seeing a miscarriage of justice. Bifurcated perceptions along racial lines are nothing new, dating back to the early 1900s. Despite this schism, few analyses have examined the genesis of this difference in perceptions on racial issues. This analysis looks to fill that gap. Specifically, we examine the role media frames and people’s preexisting attitudes and motivations play in determining what they think of contentious race issues and the people involved in them. Using the Jena Six incident as a case study, we find that people with less egalitarian racial attitudes—and low motivation to hide those attitudes—are less likely to blame race-related problems on mitigating cultural factors. They are also more likely judge news stories about a racial issue as being low quality. However, thematically framed stories that include discussion of the cultural aspects of the event may help to reduce this process.     

Racial identity, social context, and race-related social cognition in African Americans during middle childhood

This study examined the effect of changes in racial identity, cross-race friendships, same-race friendships, and classroom racial composition on changes in race-related social cognition from 3rd to 5th grade for 73 African American children. The goal of the study was to determine the extent to which preadolescent racial identity and social context predict expectations of racial discrimination in cross-race social interactions (social expectations). Expectations of racial discrimination were assessed using vignettes of cross-race social situations involving an African American child in a social interaction with European Americans. There were 3 major findings. First, expectations for discrimination declined slightly from 3rd to 5th grade. Second, although racial composition of children's classrooms, number of European American friends, gender, and family poverty status were largely unrelated to social expectations, having more African American friends was associated with expecting more discrimination in cross-racial interactions from 3rd to 5th grade. Third, increases in racial centrality were related to increases in discrimination expectations, and increases in public regard were associated with decreases in discrimination expectations. These data suggest that as early as 3rd grade, children are forming attitudes about their racial group that have implications for their cross-race social interactions.     

Lay Conceptualizations of Spirituality and Religiousness Among Jewish Israeli Men and Women

In order to clarify the lay conceptualization of spirituality and the overlap between the constructs of spirituality and religiousness, the relations between a multidimensional measure of spirituality and overall measures of spirituality and religiousness were examined. A total of 111 Israeli Jewish men and women responded to the Spiritual Orientation Inventory (SOI), a multidimensional measure of humanistic spirituality, and to single-item overall measures of spirituality and religiousness. For both men and women, all SOI sub-scales were significantly related to spirituality. In contrast, three SOI sub-scales—Altruism, Idealism, and Awareness of the tragic—were not related to religiousness. Regression analysis indicated that for men, spirituality is a more one-dimensional construct strongly associated with the experiential aspects of spirituality. In comparison, women demonstrated a more complex perception of spirituality associated with a variety of intrinsic spiritual values. In addition, for men the overlap between religiousness and spirituality centers on life coherency whereas for women the overlap appears to be more general.     

Exploring the Links Between Racial Identity Attitudes and Psychological Feelings of Closeness in African American College Students

The relationship between racial identity attitudes and psychological closeness to various African American groups was examined in 171 African American college students at a predominantly White southeastern university. The data were collected using the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (Helms & Parham, 1985), and a scale measuring Perceived Psychological Closeness to African Americans. The closeness scale is a 14-item instrument that was found to represent (in this sample) psychological closeness to 4 African American groups. Internalized racial identity attitudes indicated positive feelings toward various groups of African Americans. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that internalized racial identity attitudes were predictive of psychological closeness to African Americans, although this varied somewhat depending on the subgroup.     

The moderating role of ethnicity in the relation between religiousness and mental health among ethnically diverse college students

Many studies have documented the links between dimensions of religiousness with mental health (e.g., Hackney and Sanders 2003; Mofidi et al. 2006). However, very little is known about whether these links differ across ethnic groups. This study examined the contribution of dimensions of religiousness to the prediction of mental health in an ethnically diverse sample of 413 college students (167 European Americans, 83 African Americans, 81 Asian Americans, and 82 Latino Americans). Results indicated significant ethnic differences across dimensions of religiousness. African Americans were significantly higher on religious engagement and religious conservatism than the other ethnic groups and significantly lower on religious struggle than European Americans. Moderated multiple regressions revealed that increases in religious struggle was associated with poorer mental health for African Americans and Latino Americans, while increases in religious engagement and ecumenical worldview were associated with better mental health for African Americans. The findings indicate that ethnicity is an important factor to consider when examining the link between religiousness and mental health.     

Reactions of African American Students to the George Zimmerman Trial: Co-Rumination and Thought Intrusions as Mediators

We document how prior experiences with racism, sequentially mediated by co-rumination about racial problems with a friend and thought intrusions, are associated with negative reactions to a racially charged event—the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman and the subsequent trial and acquittal of Mr. Zimmerman. African Americans’ prior experiences with racial discrimination predicted more co-rumination about racial problems with a friend. In turn, co-rumination was associated with more thought intrusions about the trial, leading to more negative affect and less forgiveness for Zimmerman. Co-rumination about racism and worrisome thinking about high-profile race-related events may amplify concern about racism for a frequent target of racial discrimination, lowering the threshold for negative psychological reactions to racist acts (including acts of violence) that may happen to other African Americans or to oneself.