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- Title
African American Students' Responses to Racial Discrimination: How Race-Based Rejection Sensitivity and Social Constraints are Related to Psychological Reactions.
- Authors
Henson, James M.; Derlega, Valerian J.; Pearson, Matthew R.; Ferrer, Rebecca; Holmes, Karen
- Abstract
We examined the association between two individual differences (race-based rejection sensitivity and social constraints in talking about racism with family, friends, and/or intimate partners) and psychological reactions to an incident of racial discrimination. Participants were 551 African American undergraduates from either a predominantly white university (PWU) or a historically black university (HBU). Race-based rejection sensitivity (RS-Race) predicted higher negative affect and lower forgiveness for the perpetrator. Social constraints predicted higher negative affect and (marginally) lower forgiveness. There was also an interaction between social constraints and RS-Race: RS-Race was strongly negatively related to positive affect and forgiveness among participants with low social constraints but essentially unrelated among those with high social constraints. Thought intrusions (that might prolong the memory of the prejudicial event) also mediated the effects of RS-Race and social constraints on negative affect and forgiveness. The results document how individual differences are associated with reactions to being the target of racial discrimination in day-to-day interactions.
- Subjects
AFRICAN American students; RACE discrimination; REJECTION (Psychology); SENSITIVITY (Personality trait); INDIVIDUAL differences; FORGIVENESS; EMOTIONS
- Publication
Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 2013, Vol 32, Issue 5, p504
- ISSN
0736-7236
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1521/jscp.2013.32.5.504