Racial Hate at the Intersection of Online and Offline Worlds: The Joint Impact of Online and Offline Racism on the Mental Health of Racially Minoritized Individuals

Abstract

With the everyday influence of social media and online platforms, racially minoritized individuals face the risk of experiencing racial discrimination in both offline and online contexts. Yet, there is scant research on how online and offline racism could jointly impact the mental health of racially minoritized individuals. Thus, the study examined online racism as a moderator in the link between offline racism and mental health issues. Using data from 651 racially minoritized emerging adults ( Mage = 22.15, SD = 3.39), a moderation analysis was conducted using the PROCESS macro with bias-corrected bootstrapping (10,000 resamples). Experiencing more offline racism was significantly associated with greater mental health issues. Online racism was a significant moderator in the link between offline racism and mental health issues. The link between offline racism and mental health issues was not significant at low levels of online racism. However, the link was significant and strengthened at mean to high levels of online racism. The results suggest complex interactions in understanding the compounding impact of online and offline racism on mental health costs among racially minoritized individuals. Implications for future research on understanding the interplay between online and offline racism are discussed.

Online xenophobia and mental health among Venezuelan migrant youth in Colombia: The interplay with “in-person” discrimination.

“…One particularly noteworthy such measure is the Perceived Online Racism Scale (PORS), which was developed using extensive foundational research (e.g., literature review, qualitative research, survey research) and has been rigorously validated with an array of racially/ethnically minoritized adult populations in the United States (Keum & Miller, 2017). The full and abbreviated measures of the PORS have been shown to provide psychometrically sound scores associated with psychological distress, including controlling for offline experiences (Keum, 2021; Keum et al, 2023). The measure has also demonstrated theory-driven construct validity, with significant positive associations with other racism measures and a plethora of mental health issues (e.g., depression, loneliness, suicide ideation, risky alcohol use; Keum, 2023; Keum & Cano, 2023).…”