Emerging demographic trends signal that White Americans will soon relinquish their majority status. As Whites' acclimation to an increasingly diverse society is poised to figure prominently in their adjustment, identifying sources of greater comfort with diversity is important. Three studies (N = 519) revealed evidence that purpose in life bolsters comfort with ethnic diversity among White adults. Specifically, dispositional purpose was positively related to diversity attitudes and attenuated feelings of threat resulting from viewing demographic projections of greater diversity. In addition, when primed experimentally, purpose attenuated participants' preferences for living in an ethnically homogeneous-White city, relative to a more diverse city when shown maps displaying ethno-demographic information. These effects persisted after controlling for positive affect and perceived connections to ethnic out-groups, suggesting the robust influence of purpose. Potential benefits of situating purpose as a unique resource for navigating an increasingly diverse society are discussed.

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When most people think of anonymous comments written on online content, they think of messages that are overtly negative and offensive. Previous research suggests that readers of online content about race may react more negatively to authors who are members of stigmatized racial groups. In 2 studies, we tested this possibility with respect to online content written by Black and White authors. In Study 1, we analyzed readers' comments on actual race-related opinion-editorial (op-ed) essays published on The New York Times' Room for Debate blog over a 1-year period. As predicted, readers wrote more (and more negative) comments on Black authors' op-eds compared to comments written on White authors' op-eds. Study 2, which included information about the readers, revealed that people who rate themselves as likely to comment online are also more likely to have negative reactions to Black authors' content. Implications for race-related online content and directions for future research are discussed.