Exposure to Gendered Racial/Ethnic Discrimination, Friendships, and Mental Health Among Young Women of Color
Abstract
Young adult women of color experience pervasive offline and online gendered racial/ethnic discrimination, a manifestation of convergent sexism and racism, which is positively associated with mental health distress. Yet there is a lack of research on the roles of communications with close friends in navigating gendered racism, particularly regarding friends’ co-rumination against gendered racism (i.e., excessive discussion, reiteration, and speculation about gendered racism with an emphasis on negative emotions) and gendered racial/ethnic socialization (i.e., discussions aimed at either fostering pride and empowerment about one’s gender and racial/ethnic identities or enhancing awareness of gendered racism’s oppressive nature), despite that high quality friendship characterized by intimacy and support has been identified as a protective factor against discrimination. This study examined the extent to which friendship communications mediated or moderated the positive association between exposure to gendered racial/ethnic discrimination and mental health distress. Online survey data were collected from 111 Asian American, 115 Black, and 113 Hispanic/Latina women aged 18 – 24 years old. Measures included demographics, experiences of discrimination, co-rumination against gendered racism, gendered racial/ethnic socialization, friendship intimacy and support, depressive and anxiety symptoms, substance use as coping, and percentages of time spent online with friends. Participants on average had frequent experiences of gendered racial/ethnic discrimination. Results of correlational analysis yielded significant associations between exposure to discrimination and depressive and anxiety symptoms and substance use as coping. Co-rumination against gendered racism was positively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Pride and empowerment socialization was negatively associated with substance use as coping, while oppression awareness socialization was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Structural Equation Modeling analyses found that co-rumination partially mediated the association between discrimination and anxiety, and other friendship indices did not moderate such associations. Spending more time with friends online was associated with more exposure to discrimination and co-rumination. Significant racial/ethnic differences emerged in exposure to discrimination and friendship communications. Results highlight the importance of examining young women’s multifaceted friendships and the development of targeted online practices and support mechanisms and call for algorithmic transparency and reform to mitigate the risk of exacerbating gendered racism and co-rumination.
Subject Area
Developmental psychology|Ethnic studies|Mental health
Recommended Citation
Tao, Xiangyu, "Exposure to Gendered Racial/Ethnic Discrimination, Friendships, and Mental Health Among Young Women of Color" (2024). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI31234671.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31234671
