The relationships between race-related stress, racial identity, and mental health for Black Americans (2007)
The researchers studied the relationships between race-related stress, racial identity, mental health, and demographics in a sample of 255 Black American adults. The participants were culled from various sites, including community organizations in Maryland, Washington DC, and NYC, and through a national mail survey.
Race-related stressors come in different shapes and sizes. In this study, the researchers broke apart racism into three types: individual (interpersonal experiences), institutional (policies in society that discriminate), and cultural (denigration of Black culture).
Because one’s racial identity can serve as a filter for racial encounters, it’s important to analyze this identity. Black identity was defined as a spectrum of four statuses: Preencounter, Encounter, Immersion-Emersion, and Internalization. Someone with a Preencounter status denies that his/her race or racial group is important. Encounter suggests transition and confusion about one’s race or racial group. Immersion-Emersion refers to someone who is actively learning about his/her race. And internalization means that someone has already incorporated race into his/her personal identity.
The mental health questionnaire assessed the psychological well-being and psychological distress of the participants. A demographic questionnaire determined the economic disparities within the sample.
The findings of this study show that both race-related stress and racial identity status predict mental health. People who had higher preencounter scores reported more psychological distress than those with an internalization status. And “internalizers” reported higher psychological well-being than “preencounters.” In other words, if the participant didn’t accept or acknowledge his/her own race, they were more likely to experience psychological distress. And, conversely, if the participant had a better sense of his/her own race, he/she was psychologically healthier.
Working class respondents reported more distress and were more likely classified as immersion-emersion, while upper-middle class respondents were usually identified as internalizers and physiologically healthier.
After analyzing these factors, the researchers found that racial identity was the biggest predictor of mental health, more powerful than stress and economic status.
Relevance to documentary: This article highlights the various factors—racism, economics, identity, etc.—that play a role in the relationship between discrimination and health. In order to create a comprehensive film, it will be important to cover all of these areas. The major finding of this study—that racial identity was a greater predictor of mental health—will serve as a jumping off point for discussing interventions. If people of color can develop better understandings of their/our own race/ethnicities, they/we might be able to buffer the effects of racism.
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