ABSTRACT

Objective: Current racial mental health disparities among African American women have been attributed to chronic experiences of race-related stressors. Increased exposure to racism in predominately White spaces may increase reliance on culturally normative coping mechanisms. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological distress, perceived racial microaggressions, and an obligation to show strength/suppress emotions among educated, middle-class African American women.

Design: A sample of 243 African American women aged 19–72 years (M = 39.49 years) participated in an online study. Participants completed self-report measures of psychological distress (PHQ-8 and GAD-7), racial microaggressions (IMABI), and modified items from the Stereotypical Roles for Black Women (SRBWS) to assess an obligation to show strength/suppress emotions. Factor analyses were conducted to assess the reliability of the obligation to show strength/suppress emotions subscale in our sample. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and mediation analyses were also conducted to examine variable associations.

Results: Statistical analyses revealed educated, middle-class African American women who endorse an obligation to show strength/suppress emotions with perceived racial microaggressions experienced increased psychological distress.

Conclusion: Obligation to show strength/suppress emotion may increase risk for psychological distress among African American women who perceive racial microaggressions. Future research and clinical implications are discussed.

摘要

目的：非洲裔美国女性目前的种族心理健康差异归因于与种族相关的压力源的长期经历。在主要是白人的空间中增加对种族主义的暴露可能会增加对文化规范应对机制的依赖。本研究的目的是调查受过教育的中产阶级非洲裔美国女性的心理困扰、感知到的种族微攻击和表现出力量/抑制情绪的义务之间的关系。

设计： 243 名 19-72 岁（M  = 39.49 岁）的非裔美国女性样本参与了一项在线研究。参与者完成了心理困扰（PHQ-8 和 GAD-7）、种族微攻击（IMABI）的自我报告测量，并修改了黑人女性的刻板印象角色（SRBWS）中的项目，以评估展示力量/抑制情绪的义务。进行因素分析以评估在我们的样本中显示强度/抑制情绪分量表的义务的可靠性。还进行了描述性统计、多元线性回归和中介分析来检查变量关联。

结果：统计分析显示，受过教育的中产阶级非洲裔美国女性认可通过感知到的种族微攻击表现出力量/抑制情绪的义务，她们的心理压力增加。

结论：表现出力量/抑制情绪的义务可能会增加感知种族微攻击的非裔美国女性心理困扰的风险。讨论了未来的研究和临床意义。