Award Date

8-1-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Member

Daniel Allen

Second Committee Member

Noelle Lefforge

Third Committee Member

Marta Meana

Fourth Committee Member

Sheila Bock

Number of Pages

101

Abstract

Ethnic identity salience is shown to be a protective factor in the negative impact of discrimination on mental well-being in BIPOC. However, the extent to which ethnic identity salience is a protective factor in specific BIPOC is unclear. The current study examined whether ethnic identity salience would be equally protective against the negative effects of discrimination on depression and anxiety symptoms in LatinX/Hispanic, Black/African American, and AAPI groups. It included N =168 ethno-racially diverse college students (e.g., AAPI n = 59, Hispanic/LatinX n = 72, and Black/African n = 37 American college students). Hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine whether ethnic identity salience explained additional variance above and beyond the impact of discrimination on symptoms of depression and anxiety. These analyses were conducted separately for each BIPOC group included in the study. The SCL-90-R was used to assess mental health symptoms and the CECST was used to assess ethnic identity salience and discrimination. Results of the study indicated the discrimination significantly predicted symptoms of depression in the Hispanic group, but not the other groups. Ethnic identity salience did not interact with the relationship between discrimination and mental health symptoms in any of the groups. The results did not support the hypothesized relationship between ethnic identity salience and mental health symptoms associated with or caused by discrimination. However, they did provide insight into differences between the impact of discrimination on anxiety and depression symptoms in the three BIPOC groups. Future research should use more comprehensive measures of discrimination and ethnic identity salience, as well as evaluate other important factors that might influence results such as acculturation.

Keywords

Ethnicity; Anxiety; Depression, Mental; Microaggressions; Salience

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology

File Format

pdf

File Size

5200 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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