The relationship of racism to appraisals and coping in a community sample (2005)
The researchers examined the responses of 420 Black and Latino New Yorkers in a community health care setting, in order to determine if lifetime experiences of racism influence future “appraisals of and coping responses to new episodes of maltreatment,” i.e., if one Black woman experiences more discrimination than another Black woman, is she more likely to assume that her future social interactions will be discriminatory and, if so, is she more likely to cope with these interactions differently than the “less-discriminated” Black woman?
The participants were recruited from two larger studies at two time points (2001 and 2005). The investigators employed measures of perceived discrimination, discrimination appraisal, mood and personality variables, negative affect, anger expression, and general demographics. The purpose of these questionnaires was to assess which factors influence the relationship between lifetime discrimination and the responses to future social interactions. In other words, if a Hispanic man reports that he’s (many times) been a victim of racism at his workplace, and, consequently, he assumes that all of his interactions with co-workers are threatening, are his assumptions caused by the discrimination that he experienced in the past or because he’s a negative person (general personality or mood)?
The study results show that the more lifetime discrimination one experiences the more likely he/she/ze is to assume that daily interactions are threatening or harmful. Discrimination was also directly related to anger-coping styles. However, whereas workplace discrimination led to anger suppression (anger-in), social discrimination and harassment led to confrontation and aggressive expression (anger-out). Men reported significantly more discrimination than women, except in the workplace context. The researchers also found that the coping mechanism used was associated with the type of discrimination experienced. Victims of discrimination didn’t appear to have a blanket response to discrimination; their coping strategies were dictated by the nature of the stressor. As the authors of this article noted: People don’t get used to racism!
Relevance to documentary: All too often the issues of discrimination are simplified. This study serves as a reminder that this a very complicated, and multi-layered polemic. Each instance of discrimination is very powerful, and it, ultimately, determines how someone will interact with others. And that interaction isn’t always aggressive and obvious. The example of workplace discrimination is especially troubling, because Brondolo et al. found that Blacks and Latinos tended to suppress anger in the workplace. One can only speculate that this muted response has to do with job security. Because work hours make up a large chunk of our day, being in an environment were one has to suppress their emotions, and especially those caused by workplace interactions, is mentally and physically exhausting and unhealthy.
Link (Google scholar)