Individual and collective morale for one's racial group (via self-esteem social support) may be especially valuable for African Americans who face racial discrimination. Findings highlight the importance of culturally relevant factors that may ameliorate the effects of race-related stress. (PsycINFO Database Record

Racial discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms for young African American adults. Yet few studies have examined the psychological mechanisms for this association. The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the mediating effect of helplessness on the association between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms in a sample of 172 African American young adults. Measures of perceived racial discrimination, depression, and helplessness were administered. Though the majority of the sample reported minimal or no symptoms of depression, approximately 37% of the sample reported dysphoric or more severe depression symptomatology. After controlling for age, perceived racial discrimination was directly and indirectly associated with depressive symptoms via helplessness. These findings provide some insight into the cognitive mechanisms through which depressive symptoms may emerge for African American young adults exposed to racial discrimination.

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Objective: To examine purpose in life (PIL) and ethnic identity (EI) as buffers to suicide ideation for Asian American, Hispanic, and Black emerging adults who perceive racial discrimination. Method: Two-hundred eighty-nine undergraduate students enrolled at a large university in the southwestern region of the United States (40.8% Asian American, 32.5% Hispanic, 26.6% Black; 61.2% women; mean age ϭ 20.47, SD ϭ 1.83) reported on experiences of racial discrimination, PIL, EI, and suicidal thoughts. Covariates were intrinsic religiosity, gender, and age. Results: Regression analysis showed that EI was not a significant moderator for the association between perceived racial discrimination (PRD) and suicidal ideation (␤ ϭ Ϫ.08, p ϭ .13; 95% confidence interval (CI) [Ϫ.19, .03]). However, PIL was a significant moderator (␤ ϭ Ϫ.11, p ϭ .025; CI [Ϫ.20, Ϫ.01]). A hierarchical regression showed that PIL as a moderator explained additional variance (⌬R 2 ϭ 0.11, p Ͻ .001) in suicide ideation above and beyond EI. Conclusions: These findings provide some insight into how life purpose might ameliorate the impact of social stressors above and beyond a positive cultural identity for young racial/ethnic minority adults.

Objectives: Perceived racial discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms for African American adults; however, insight to protective factors for racism and depression in African Americans is limited. While current research suggests that dispositional forgiveness is an important factor in how people perceive and cope with interpersonal transgressions, few studies have examined its role in the context of racial discrimination. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of forgiveness (beyond broader internalized religiosity) on the association between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms in African American adults. Method: Sample included 101 African American adults (60.2% female; M age ϭ 21.90 years, SD ϭ 4.93 years) who endorsed experiences of racial discrimination. Participants completed a questionnaire battery consisting of self-report measures of perceived experiences of racial discrimination, depression, dispositional forgiveness, and intrinsic religiosity. Results: Regression analyses showed dispositional forgiveness moderated the association between perceived racial discrimination and symptoms of depression above and beyond intrinsic religiosity (␤ ϭ Ϫ.05, 95% CI [Ϫ.10, Ϫ.05], p Ͻ .05), such that the racial discrimination-depression association was significant for participants who reported low levels of dispositional forgiveness, but not for individuals who reported higher levels of dispositional forgiveness. Conclusions: These findings provide insight into the role of dispositional forgiveness in experiences of racial discrimination and suggest that cognitive flexibility serves as an adaptive coping strategy to experiencing discrimination. Public Significance StatementIt has been suggested that the utilization of internal coping strategies is vital for marginalized populations that experience daily forms of overt racial discrimination. The results of this study suggest that dispositional forgiveness, a robust internal coping mechanism, can serve as an adaptive coping strategy associated with fewer depressive symptoms for African American adults who have experienced racial discrimination; this is true even after controlling for religious beliefs.