Citation

Madubata IJ, Odafe MO, Talavera DC, Hong JH, Walker RL. J. Black Psychol. 2018; 44(7): 626-643.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Association of Black Psychologists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0095798418811476

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Racial discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms for young African American adults. Yet few studies have examined the psychological mechanisms for this association. The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the mediating effect of helplessness on the association between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms in a sample of 172 African American young adults. Measures of perceived racial discrimination, depression, and helplessness were administered. Though the majority of the sample reported minimal or no symptoms of depression, approximately 37% of the sample reported dysphoric or more severe depression symptomatology. After controlling for age, perceived racial discrimination was directly and indirectly associated with depressive symptoms via helplessness. These findings provide some insight into the cognitive mechanisms through which depressive symptoms may emerge for African American young adults exposed to racial discrimination.

Language: en