Related Experiment Videos
Positive and negative responses to personal discrimination: does coping make a difference?
1Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks 58202-3454, USA. foster@badlands.nodak.edu
The Journal of Social Psychology
|March 8, 2000
Summary
Perceiving personal discrimination can have positive or negative outcomes. Coping mechanisms, like social support or avoidance, better predict these outcomes than discrimination perception alone, influencing collective action and helplessness.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Research links perceived personal discrimination to negative psychological symptoms.
- Group consciousness theories suggest perceiving discrimination can be empowering.
- Reconciling these opposing findings requires examining coping mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether coping methods moderate the relationship between perceiving personal discrimination and psychological/behavioral outcomes.
- To determine if coping strategies predict psychosocial behaviors more effectively than discrimination perception alone.
Main Methods:
- Survey study with 262 female university students in the United States.
- Assessment of perceptions of personal discrimination, psychological symptoms, and psychosocial behaviors.
- Analysis of coping mechanisms (social support, avoidance).
Main Results:
- Coping mechanisms were stronger predictors of psychosocial behaviors than personal discrimination.
- Use of social support correlated with increased collective action and decreased helplessness.
- Use of avoidance correlated with increased helplessness behavior.
Conclusions:
- The method of coping with perceived personal discrimination is a key determinant of outcomes.
- Social support coping fosters collective action, while avoidance coping increases helplessness.
- Understanding coping strategies is crucial for mitigating negative impacts of discrimination.