Racial Discrimination: The Role of Psychological Factors

Since racial discrimination is associated with mental health consequences (Vargas et al., 2020) such as depression (Flores et al., 2008) and anxiety (Ong et al., 2009), the following research investigated how racialized individuals cope with these consequences as well as the roles that learned helplessness (a psychological state resulting in uncontrollable distress; Hiroto & Seligman, 1975), and general self-efficacy (the belief in one’s ability to organize and execute action to manage prospective situations; Bandura, 1995) may have. Correlational results for Study 1 replicated existing relationships in the literature except for one. The results of Study 2 showed that contrary to hypotheses, general self-efficacy did not moderate the mediation of learned helplessness in the relationships between racial discrimination to feelings depression or anxiety. This research contributes to the existing research on the negative consequences of racial discrimination by providing ideas for future research.