Objectives: Although a wealth of literature has documented the adverse physical and mental health effects associated with exposure to racism, little scholarly attention has focused on the specific impact of online racism. Online experiences of racism have increased significantly over the years, and the intersection of online and "offline" racism makes it difficult for African Americans to find respite from overall experiences of racial discrimination in their daily lives. To address this gap in the literature, the present study was designed to examine the possible compounded effect of online and institutional racism by investigating whether offline institutional racism would serve as a moderator of the effects of online racism on psychological outcomes in a sample of African Americans. Method: One hundred and eighty-two African Americans answered survey data on their experiences of institutional and online racism, as well as their overall mental health. Moderated regressions and simple slope analyses were performed to examine the effects of online, institutional, and the interaction of online and institutional racism on psychological symptoms (i.e., psychological distress and well-being). Results: Online racism was the strongest and most consistent predictor of all outcome variables. The interaction of online and institutional racism was significantly associated with psychological distress but not well-being. Conclusions: Findings suggest that participants who endorsed institutional racism experience increased severity in psychological symptoms in relation to increased exposure to online racism. Public Significance StatementWe investigated whether people's experiences and perceptions of institutional racism (i.e., policies and practices maintained by U.S. institutions that marginalize or disadvantage African Americans) compounded with people's experiences of online racism (i.e., racism experienced in online settings) to worsen the mental health of African Americans. We found the compounded effect of different types of racism was a significant stressor for our sample. The effects of online racism have not been widely studied, and our findings highlight the importance of developing policies to regulate hate speech in online settings.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to measure the degree to which men perceive sex as a commodity. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a guide, the Sex as a Commodity Scale (SACS) was created to provide a multidimensional measure to best predict whether men perceive sex as a commodity, and to differentiate between men who do and do not buy sex. In Study 1, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 200 men (107 sex buyers), revealing interrelated factors associated with the TPB framework: (a) attitudes, (b) norms, and (c) perceived control toward buying sex. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a distinct sample of 244 men (113 sex buyers), providing further support for the bifactor structure of the SACS. Significant bivariate correlations with attitudes toward prostitution, sexual economics, and sex buyers provided support for the SACS' criterion validity. Furthermore, the SACS was able to significantly differentiate between men who did and did not buy sex. Our findings imply that the SACS is a beneficial scale that can be used to further inform intervention programs, preventative sex education, and future research on the behavior of men who purchase sex. Public Significance StatementThis study outlines the development of an instrument that can be used to measure whether men perceive sex as a commodity, which is a significant predictor of whether they would buy sex. The findings indicate the scale can reliably differentiate between men who do and do not buy sex, and may help in evaluating the effectiveness of intervention programs to prevent reoffense of men who buy sex, aiding in the development and evaluation of preventative sex education curriculums, and aiding practitioners and researchers working with men who buy sex.