African American Identity, Discrimination and Mental Disorders

描述（由申请人提供）：研究表明，种族认同态度在许多非裔美国人体验世界的方式中起着重要作用。然而，很少有研究在具体事件的分析单元中检查种族认同。因此，人们很少知道非裔美国人对种族的重要性和意义的稳定态度和信念如何影响他们在特定情况下的经历和行为方式。鉴于越来越多的证据表明，种族认同在缓冲经历种族歧视对非裔美国人心理健康的有害影响方面起着重要作用，这种研究的缺乏尤其有问题。本研究试图解决当前研究文献中的这一缺陷。在此过程中，本研究有三个具体目标：1)研究个体稳定的种族认同态度如何与情境特征相互作用，以影响当种族是一个显著身份时；2)确定特定情境下的种族显著性体验是否会影响个体对种族在其生活中的重要性和意义的稳定信念的变化；3)研究个体的种族认同态度和情境特征如何相互作用，影响个体应对特定种族歧视经历的方式。将从6所大学招募740名自认为是非洲裔美国人的一年级大学生参加一项为期4年的纵向研究。学生的种族认同、种族歧视经历和心理健康指标（抑郁、焦虑和幸福感）将在情境和跨情境水平上进行评估。除了年度调查外，学生们每年还将参与使用经验抽样技术的3个为期20天的条件中的一个。这些条件包括种族突出条件、种族歧视条件和控制条件。多层次的数据分析技术将在各种研究中使用，以实现研究的具体目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research suggests that racial identity attitudes play a significant role in the way in which many African Americans experience the world. However, little research has been conducted examining racial identity at the unit of analysis of the specific event. As a result, little is known how African Americans' stable attitudes and beliefs regarding the significance and meaning of race influence the way in which they experience and behave in specific situations. This dearth of research is particularly problematic given the growing evidence that racial identity plays an important role in buffering the deleterious effects of experiencing racial discrimination on the mental health of African Americans. The proposed study attempts to address this shortcoming in the current research literature. In doing so, the proposed study has 3 specific aims: 1) To examine how individuals' stable racial identity attitudes interact with situational characteristics to influence when race is a salient identity; 2) To determine whether situationally-specific experiences of racial salience influence changes in individuals' stable beliefs regarding the significance and meaning of race in their lives; and 3) To investigate the way in which individuals' racial identity attitudes and situational characteristics interact to influence the way in which individuals cope with specific experiences of racial discrimination. 740 self-identified African American first-year college students will be recruited from 6 universities to participate in a 4-year longitudinal study. Students' racial identity, racial discrimination experiences, and indicators of mental health (depression, anxiety, and well-being) will be assessed at both the situational and trans-situational level. In addition to an annual survey, the students will participate, each year, in 1 of 3 20-day conditions in which experience-sampling techniques will be employed. These conditions include a racial salience condition, a racial discrimination condition, and a control condition. Multilevel data analytic techniques will be employed across the various studies to achieve the specific aims of the study.