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The Roles of Self-Concealment and Perceived Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in General Psychological Distress among Racial and Ethnic Minority College Students in the United States

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Abstract

In the present cross-sectional study, we examined whether self-concealment and perceived racial and ethnic discrimination were uniquely associated with general psychological distress among racial and ethnic minority (REM) college students in the United States (U.S.), and whether these associations differed for individuals who self-identified as Black American, Asian American, Latinx American, or other REMs. Three hundred twenty-six REM college students (nwoman = 279, nman = 47; age range = 16-54 years) completed self-report measures of interest online. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that greater self-concealment was significantly associated with higher levels of general psychological distress in all REM groups above associations between perceived racial and ethnic discrimination and psychological distress. Importantly, results also revealed that greater perceived racial and ethnic discrimination was only significantly associated with higher levels of general psychological distress in the Black American group, and not in the Asian American, Latinx American, or other REM groups. Limitations and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822-2294, USA

    Akihiko Masuda & Charles Liu

  2. McKay School of Education, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    G. E. Kawika Allen

  3. Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA

    Erin C. Tully

Authors
  1. Akihiko Masuda
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  2. G. E. Kawika Allen
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  3. Charles Liu
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  4. Erin C. Tully
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Contributions

The first author led the literature review, discussed research questions with the fourth author, wrote and revised the manuscript. The second author did the literature review, drafted, revised, and edited the manuscript. The third author wrote and revised the manuscript. Finally, the fourth author ran data analysis and wrote and revised the final version of manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akihiko Masuda.

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The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Georgia State University.

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Given the online nature of the present study, all participants electronically consented to join the present study.

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Masuda, A., Allen, G.E.K., Liu, C. et al. The Roles of Self-Concealment and Perceived Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in General Psychological Distress among Racial and Ethnic Minority College Students in the United States. Int J Adv Counselling 43, 472–488 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-021-09441-1

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