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Culturally Informed Shift-&-Persist: A Higher-Order Factor Model and Prospective Associations With Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms

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N. Keita Christophe at McGill University
N. Keita Christophe
Gabriela L Stein at University of Texas at Austin
Gabriela L Stein
Michelle Y. Martin Romero at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Michelle Y. Martin Romero
Puja Patel at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Puja Patel
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Abstract

Objectives: Based on the conceptual overlap between shift-&-persist (S&P) and culturally based strategies (critical civic engagement [CCE] and spiritually based coping), this study tests whether associations between these three previously disparate strategies are attributable to the existence of a higher-order coping construct: culturally informed S&P. Methods: Among 364 diverse minoritized youth (Mage = 18.79, 85.2% female), we tested for the existence of this higher-order factor through confirmatory factor analysis. Results: We found theoretical and empirical support for the existence of a higher-order factor structure and for our higher-order factor—culturally informed S&P. Culturally informed S&P promotes fewer depressive symptoms as a main effect in addition to completely protecting against the negative impact of discrimination on depressive symptoms when culturally informed S&P is high. Conclusions: The current study illustrates relations between three previously distinct coping strategies through their association with culturally informed S&P. Results highlight culturally informed S&P’s promotive and protective effects in the face of ethnic–racial discrimination. Implications for subsequent study of culturally based coping are discussed.
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Culturally Informed Shift-&-Persist: A Higher-Order Factor Model and
Prospective Associations With Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms
N. Keita Christophe
1
, Gabriela L. Stein
1
, Michelle Y. Martin Romero
2
, Puja P. Patel
1
, and Joseph K. Sircar
1
1
Department of Psychology, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2
Department of Public Health Education, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Objectives: Based on the conceptual overlap between shift-&-persist (S&P) and culturally based strategies
(critical civic engagement [CCE] and spiritually based coping), this study tests whether associations
between these three previously disparate strategies are attributable to the existence of a higher-order coping
construct: culturally informed S&P. Methods: Among 364 diverse minoritized youth (M
age
=18.79, 85.2%
female), we tested for the existence of this higher-order factor through confirmatory factor analysis. Results:
We found theoretical and empirical support for the existence of a higher-order factor structure and for our
higher-order factor—culturally informed S&P. Culturally informed S&P promotes fewer depressive
symptoms as a main effect in addition to completely protecting against the negative impact of discrimination
on depressive symptoms when culturally informed S&P is high. Conclusions: The current study illustrates
relations between three previously distinct coping strategies through their association with culturally
informed S&P. Results highlight culturally informed S&P’s promotive and protective effects in the face of
ethnic–racial discrimination. Implications for subsequent study of culturally based coping are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
Culturally based shift-&-persist is a coping construct that captures the multiple culturally based ways
youth may cope with racialized stress. Culturally informed shift-&-persist may promote psychological
well-being (i.e., fewer depressive symptoms) among minoritized youth and fully protect them against
the negative effects of discrimination.
Keywords: shift-&-persist, civic engagement, coping, discrimination, depression
Supplemental materials: https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000361.supp
Minoritized
1
groups in the United States face a host of unique
stressors, such as ethnic–racial discrimination, that have long-lasting
deleterious effects on mental and physical health (Benner et al.,
2018). Given the numerous negative effects of discrimination,
scholars have attempted to identify factors that may promote posi-
tive well-being and protect against discrimination. One commonly
posited factor has been ethnic–racial identity (ERI), or the meaning
that race/ethnicity has in one’s self-concept (Sellers et al.,1998);
however, meta-analyses have shown that ERI does not universally
nor consistently protect minoritized youth from negative mental
health when exposed to discrimination (Yip et al., 2019). Thus,
although ERI serves to promote adaptation in minoritized youth
(Rivas-Drake et al., 2014), it is likely that other factors such as
effective coping are also necessary to protect youth against discrim-
ination (Neblett et al., 2012). Despite the clear need for scholars to
understand how minoritized youth cope with discrimination, the
mainstream coping literature has been widely criticized attending to
neither the unique stressors these groups face nor the unique ways
youth cope with these stressors (Compas et al., 2017).
To continue to integrate the role of culture and resilience into the
study of developmental psychopathology (Coll et al., 2000), it is
critical to understand how the culturally embedded coping strategies
that are informed by the values, beliefs, and traditions of these
minoritized groups (Heppner et al., 2014) serve to buffer against
race-related stress. This study aims to elucidate previously
unexplored connections between culturally informed coping strate-
gies with a mainstream coping model that has been developed
specifically for marginalized groups (Chen & Miller, 2012). The
shift-&-persist (S&P) paradigm draws from the broader coping
literature and described a coping response that is best suited for
This article was published Online First June 28, 2021.
N. Keita Christophe https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1310-2236
Gabriela L. Stein https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7365-5169
Michelle Y. Martin Romero https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3245-1781
Joseph K. Sircar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9419-4584
This work was supported in part by a predoctoral fellowship provided by
the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32-
HD07376) through the Carolina Consortium on Human Development,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to N. Keita Christophe.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressedtoN.Keita
Christophe, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, 296 Eberhart Building, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC
27402-6170, United States. Email: nnchrist@uncg.edu
1
We use the term minoritized to refer to racial/ethnic “minority”youth.
We elect to use the term minoritized, as it implies that these youth have been
placed in disadvantaged social positions due to sociopolitical and economic
inequalities regardless of numeric representation.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
© 2021 American Psychological Association 2021, Vol. 27, No. 4, 638–648
ISSN: 1099-9809 https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000361
638
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
... Assessing general 'unfair treatment' via Williams's et al.'s (1997) Everyday Discrimination Scale, Lam et al. (2018) found that youth (50% non-white) who faced greater unfair treatment were protected against worse asthma profiles; this study provided initial evidence that shift-&-persist could be protective in the context of discrimination. More recently, research on shift-&-persist has also extended past health outcomes to the study of ethnic-racial discrimination and depressive symptoms in samples of Latinx youth (Christophe et al., 2019(Christophe et al., , 2021. These studies broadly found that Latinx youth lower in ERI (i.e., private regard, centrality) were protected against discrimination if they endorsed high levels of shift-&-persist coping. ...
... While there are many potential protective factors, both culturally-informed and otherwise, that may in certain contexts promote better mental health and even reduce the impacts of discrimination, there is reason to believe that the previously reviewed factors (ERI, religious coping, familism values, and shift-&-persist may be related to one another in complex ways. For instance, in a study of minoritized emerging adults, Christophe et al. (2021) found that shift, persist and spiritually based coping loaded onto-with civic engagement-a single latent construct, named 'culturallyinformed shift-&-persist' in that study. This construct was positively related to youth's ERI, promoted fewer depressive symptoms, and mitigated the harmful impact of discrimination on depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2021). ...
... For instance, in a study of minoritized emerging adults, Christophe et al. (2021) found that shift, persist and spiritually based coping loaded onto-with civic engagement-a single latent construct, named 'culturallyinformed shift-&-persist' in that study. This construct was positively related to youth's ERI, promoted fewer depressive symptoms, and mitigated the harmful impact of discrimination on depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2021). These factors were all grouped together because of apparent conceptual similarities; for instance, religious/spiritual coping may entail a reappraisal and acceptance of stress as part of some greater plan (i.e., a shift) combined with optimism and a sense of purpose in life derived from one's spiritual/ religious beliefs and community. ...
Patterns of Cultural and Coping Factors Among Minoritized Youth: Associations with Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms
Article
  • Feb 2024
Models of resilience in minoritized youth posit that youth need to draw upon multiple different cultural (e.g., identity, values, etc.) and general factors (e.g., coping) to thrive in the face of discrimination. Nonetheless, the integration of these factors in empirical scholarship is lacking, as scholars have typically focused on single factors within these models in isolation. To provide a more holistic test of these theoretical models, we utilized latent profile analysis, a technique well-suited to examine the simultaneous impact of multiple factors, to identify patterns of cultural promotive factors (ethnic-racial identity, religious coping, and familism) and a general coping factor (shift-&-persist) in 694 minoritized (Mage = 17.24, 73.5% women, 46.1% black) youth. We observed four profiles: High Cultural High Coping, Average Cultural Average Coping, Low Religious Low Coping, and Low Cultural Low Coping. Despite a lack of developmental differences, several profile differences emerged with respect to gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Additionally, Average Promotive Average Coping youth experienced the greatest amount of discrimination. Finally, after accounting for the effects of discrimination and covariates, those in the High Cultural High Coping profile displayed fewer depressive symptoms than those in the Average Cultural Average Coping and Low Religious Low Coping profiles.
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... Shift-and-persist (SP) strategies are defined as the ability to adapt the self to stressors (shift) while preserving focus on the future (persist), and its framework was developed as a way to understand why some persons of low socioeconomic status are protected against adverse physical health outcomes whereas others are not [20]. Accordingly, research has documented the protective effect of SP on health outcomes among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups [21][22][23] and groups experiencing a range of stressors [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Although primarily studied in the context of cardiometabolic outcomes, a growing body of literature has started to document the association between SP and psychological distress outcomes [23,[26][27][28][29]. ...
... Accordingly, research has documented the protective effect of SP on health outcomes among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups [21][22][23] and groups experiencing a range of stressors [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Although primarily studied in the context of cardiometabolic outcomes, a growing body of literature has started to document the association between SP and psychological distress outcomes [23,[26][27][28][29]. For instance, Christophe et al. found that greater use of SP was associated with lower depressive symptoms among Latinx youth in the continental US [23], and that SP buffered the association between a stressor (i.e., experiences of discrimination) and depressive symptoms. ...
... Our study showed that SP was negatively associated with psychological distress among young adults in Puerto Rico. These findings are in agreement with the growing body of work on SP and depression [23,[26][27][28][29]. For instance, greater SP was associated with lower depression symptoms among Mexican American and continental US Latinx youth, participants of the MIDUSI-III study (2% Latinx), and US-born racial/ethnic minority youth (22% Latinx) who were experiencing discrimination [23,[26][27][28]. ...
Shift-and-persist strategies as a potential protective factor against symptoms of psychological distress among young adults in Puerto Rico
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2023
  • SOC PSYCH PSYCH EPID
Objective Residents of Puerto Rico are disproportionately exposed to social and environmental stressors (e.g., Hurricane María and the 2020 sequence of tremors) known to be associated with psychological distress. Shift-and-persist (SP), or the ability to adapt the self to stressors while preserving focus on the future, has been linked with lower psychological distress, but no study has evaluated this in Puerto Rico. This study examined the association between SP and psychological distress (including that from natural disasters) in a sample of young adults in Puerto Rico. Methods Data from the Puerto Rico-OUTLOOK study (18–29 y) were used. Participants (n = 1497) completed assessments between September 2020 and September 2022. SP was measured with the Chen scale and categorized into quartiles (SPQ1–SPQ4). Psychological distress included symptoms of depression (CESD-10), anxiety (STAI-10), post-traumatic stress disorder (Civilian Abbreviated Scale PTSD checklist), and ataque de nervios (an idiom of distress used by Latinx groups). Outcomes were dichotomized according to clinical cutoffs when available, otherwise used sample-based cutoffs. Two additional items assessed the perceived mental health impact of Hurricane María and the 2020 sequence of tremors (categorized as no/little impact vs. some/a lot). Adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated. Results The most commonly reported psychological distress outcome was PTSD (77%). In adjusted models, compared to SP Q1, persons in SP Q2–Q4 were less likely to have elevated symptoms of depression (PR Q2 = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.72–0.85; PR Q3 = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.58–0.73; and PR Q4 = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.35–0.48), PTSD (PR Q2 = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.87–0.98; PR Q3 = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.80–0.93; and PR Q4 = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.70–0.83), anxiety (PR Q2 = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.31–0.48; PR Q3 = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.20–0.37; and PR Q4 = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.07–0.17) and experiences of ataque de nervios (PR Q2 = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.76–0.94; PR Q3 = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.70–0.90; and PR Q4 = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.60–0.78). Compared to persons in SP Q1, persons in SP Q3–Q4 were less likely to report adverse mental health impacts from Hurricane María (PR Q3 = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.55–0.79; and PR Q4 = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.44–0.65) and the 2020 sequence of tremors (PR Q3 = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.61–0.98; and PR Q4 = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.59–0.94). Conclusion SP was associated with lower psychological distress. Studies are needed to confirm our findings and evaluate potential mechanisms of action.
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... The act of civic engagement has been shown to be a driver of meaning and purpose for those from marginalized groups (Sumner et al., 2018). Similarly, spiritually based coping may also be enacted in a way consistent with S&P with marginalized individuals reappraising and accepting instances of discrimination as part of the plan of a higher power and subsequently finding purpose, optimism, and hope for the future in their relationship with their faith/spiritual community (Christophe et al., 2021). ...
... In the sample of 364 minoritized emerging adults examined in the current study, associations between shift, persist, civic engagement, and spiritually based coping were explained through a higher-order coping factor representing the commonalities among all these ways of coping (Christophe et al., 2021). This factor, coined culturally informed S&P, represents the unobserved way of coping that embodies cognitive reappraisal, acceptance, and purpose in life with the potentially promotive and protective aspects of youth's cultural identities that are expressed through coping. ...
... This factor, coined culturally informed S&P, represents the unobserved way of coping that embodies cognitive reappraisal, acceptance, and purpose in life with the potentially promotive and protective aspects of youth's cultural identities that are expressed through coping. In this sample, greater culturally informed S&P coping was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and, for youth who engaged in high levels of this style of coping, discrimination was no longer a risk factor for depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2021). Finally, we found that ERI was no longer negatively associated with depression when controlling for culturally informed S&P, lending credence to the claim that promotive aspects of ERI on depression may be accounted for by assessing the culturally informed S&P construct. ...
Examining the promotive versus the protective impact of culturally informed shift‐&‐persist coping in the context of discrimination, anxiety, and health behaviors
Article
  • Jan 2022
This study aims to better understand how racially/ethnically minoritized youth exhibit adaptive psychological functioning (less anxiety) and health behaviors (better sleep and less binge drinking) in the context of discrimination, ethnic-racial identity and coping. Among 364 minoritized emerging adults (Mage = 18.79, 85.2% female), we utilized higher-order factor analysis to examine how culturally informed shift-&-persist (S&P), a higher-order construct explaining associations between coping factors (shift, persist, spiritually based coping, civic engagement), and ethnic-racial identity were related to anxiety, binge drinking, and sleep in the context of discrimination. Culturally informed S&P promoted better sleep and less anxiety controlling for discrimination. No significant effects were observed for binge drinking and no moderated effects were observed across outcomes. The harmful effect of discrimination on sleep was intensified for those with stronger ethnic-racial identities. The promotive and potentially protective effects of culturally informed S&P coping differs across mental health and health behavior outcomes.
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... Consistent with theory, shift-&-persist moderated the relation between economic hardship and depressive symptoms in a cross-sectional sample of 175 Latinx youth (M age = 14; 100% Latinx), where the positive relation between economic hardship and depressive symptoms was attenuated for youth high in shift-&-persist, but not those with lower levels of shift-&-persist (Christophe et al., 2019). Another recent cross-sectional study also found that shift-&persist moderated the relation between discrimination and depressive symptoms in a college student sample such that for those highest in shift-&persist the discrimination-depressive link was completely mitigated but not those at mean or below the mean of shift-&-persist (Christophe, Stein, Martin Romero, Patel, & Sircar, 2021). Thus, our team has established cross-sectional studies in different data sets that shift-&-persist confers protective mental health effects in the face of economic stress and discrimination. ...
... Longitudinal work has indicated that the shift-&persist coping strategies protect low-SES youth and youth faced with unfair treatment from poor physical health outcomes (Chen et al., 2011;Lam et al., 2018), and cross-sectional work has indicated that shift-&-persist coping strategies are associated with lower youth depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2019(Christophe et al., , 2021. However, the shift-&-persist paradigm has yet to be extended to mental health outcomes longitudinally in adolescence. ...
... Similarly, spiritually based coping also involves shifting away from the stressor and providing deeper meaning and purpose (persist) (Sumner, Burrow, & Hill, 2018). There is emerging evidence from a different sample of college students that shift-&-persist coupled with critical civic engagement and spiritually based coping may mitigate the impact of discrimination on depressive symptoms, indicating that these coping resources may be necessary components needed to overcome the negative mental health impacts of discrimination (Christophe et al., 2021). Future work should consider other constellation of coping resources that are embedded in the daily lives of minoritized youth that can serve as net protective factors in the toxic environment of racism and discrimination (Spencer, 2006). ...
Shift and Persist in Mexican American Youth: A Longitudinal Test of Depressive Symptoms
Article
  • Jan 2022
This paper tested whether shift-&-persist coping, or coping involving the combination of cognitive reappraisal, acceptance, and optimism (Chen & Miller, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2012, 7, 135), attenuates the risks presented by economic hardship and ethnic discrimination for change in depressive symptoms from 9th to 12th grade, in a sample of 674 Mexican American youth (Mage W1 = 10.86; 50% female; 72% US born) and whether this effect depends on ethnic pride. Structural equation modeling indicated that, when accounting for economic hardship, shift-&-persist was associated with fewer concurrent depression symptoms. Youth with lower ethnic pride who endorsed high levels of shift-&-persist were protected against the negative impacts of peer ethnic discrimination on depressive symptoms. Future research on ethnic discrimination should examine patterns of coping and identity that can mitigate risk.
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... In a study of racially ethnically minoritized emerging adults (55% Black, 22% Latinx), we tested whether religious/spiritual coping and critical civic engagement, in combination with more general shifting and persisting, held together as a single higher-order coping construct that captured their conceptual similarities and worked to protect against the negative impacts of discrimination across all levels of racialethnic identity (Christophe et al., 2021). We did find evidence that shift/persist/spiritual coping and critical civic engagement were well captured by a single coping construct, which we termed culturally-informed S&P, that embodied the generally and culturally-based ways in which racially-ethnically minoritized emerging adults employed S&P principles to cope with stress. ...
... We did find evidence that shift/persist/spiritual coping and critical civic engagement were well captured by a single coping construct, which we termed culturally-informed S&P, that embodied the generally and culturally-based ways in which racially-ethnically minoritized emerging adults employed S&P principles to cope with stress. Further, we found that youth who were at mean and high levels of culturally informed S&P coping were fully protected against the negative impacts of discrimination, and this protective effect did not differ based on an individual's racial-ethnic identity (Christophe et al., 2021). Further, although racial-ethnic identity was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms and predicted fewer depressive symptoms on its own, the promotive effect of racial-ethnic identity became nonsignificant when culturally informed S&P was entered into the model. ...
Racial-Ethnic Socialization in Latinx Families: Cultural Resilience and Coping
Chapter
  • Nov 2023
In the last decade, there has been a surge in research examining racial-ethnic socialization (RES) in Latinx families building upon a research base that has established Latinx culturally resilient processes. Our chapter brings together these lines of work and presents a model for understanding the protective processes of RES in Latinx families. We first discuss the unique factors that may influence RES processes and need further attention (e.g., acculturation, immigration status, country of origin). We then present a model that delineates how RES supports the development of culturally resilient values and beliefs (i.e., racial-ethnic identity, familism values, familial resilience, critical reflection, and motivation) that lead to the enactment of culturally resilient behaviors (i.e., ethnic-racial behaviors, familism behaviors, familial coping and support, and shift-&-persist coping). We argue that together culturally resilient values and behaviors ultimately result in greater self-esteem, school engagement, prosocial behaviors, and well-being for Latinx youth as they face discrimination, marginalization, and oppression. We conclude by considering how these culturally resilient processes can be embedded in prevention and intervention efforts.
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... Previous research on shift-and-persist coping in Latinx youth suggests that it may act as a secondary control coping strategy or supplement to other sources of resilience such as racial-ethnic identity (Christophe et al., 2019). Shiftand-persist coping has also been theorized to exist within a higher order construct-culturally informed shift-andpersist-which also includes spiritually based coping and critical civic engagement and is posited to have protective and promotive effects among youth from minoritized backgrounds experiencing racial-ethnic discrimination, especially among those with low levels of racial-ethnic identity (Christophe et al., 2021). Recent research has found high levels of culturally informed shift-and-persist may have protective effects against the adverse effects of discrimination on depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2021). ...
... Shiftand-persist coping has also been theorized to exist within a higher order construct-culturally informed shift-andpersist-which also includes spiritually based coping and critical civic engagement and is posited to have protective and promotive effects among youth from minoritized backgrounds experiencing racial-ethnic discrimination, especially among those with low levels of racial-ethnic identity (Christophe et al., 2021). Recent research has found high levels of culturally informed shift-and-persist may have protective effects against the adverse effects of discrimination on depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2021). Future research could examine whether these patterns are similar among African American youth as well. ...
Shift-and-persist coping and health among rural African American adolescents
Article
  • Jun 2023
  • J RES ADOLESCENCE
This study examines whether shift-and-persist coping, a coping strategy defined by accepting challenges and remaining hopeful for the future, is associated with psychosocial and physical health and/or moderates the effects of contextual stress (i.e., racial discrimination, financial strain) on health among African American adolescents living in the rural Southeastern United States. Participants (N = 299, 56% boys, Mage = 12.91) completed measures of shift-and-persist coping, contextual stress, and psychosocial and physical health. Shift-and-persist coping was generally associated with better health but did not buffer the effects of contextual stress. Results suggest that shift-and-persist coping may serve as a source of resilience among African American adolescents living in a context where many experience heightened contextual stress.
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... Prior reliability in a sample of youth was α = .90 for depressive symptoms (Christophe et al., 2021). Our sample demonstrated similar reliability (α overall = .909, ...
Facilitating the Study of Familism Across Racial/Ethnic Groups: Creation of the Short Attitudinal Familism Scale
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2022
As the research on familism values, or cultural values relating to support, interconnectedness, and obligations has blossomed, scholars are increasingly interested in the applicability and impact of familism values across diverse racial/ethnic youth. However, existing measures of familism tend to be long, posing potential practicality issues and have not been validated for use across youth from different racial/ethnic groups. Through a series of conceptual steps and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we developed the Short Attitudinal Familism Scale, a 6-item, shortened, unidimensional version of Lugo Steidel and Contreras's (2003) 18-item Attitudinal Familism Scale. This measure was created and validated in a sample of 671 Black, Latinx American, Asian American, and Multiracial youth (Mage = 17.23, 73.6% female). Multigroup measurement invariance testing indicated that the Short Attitudinal Familism Scale was almost wholly noninvariant and may be used reliably across racial/ethnic groups. Finally, we established construct validity by demonstrating negative associations with depressive symptoms in all but Asian American youth and positive associations between familism and ethnic-racial identity (ERI) for all youth. In conducting these tests using regressions using observed mean scores and structural equation modeling (SEM) using latent variables, we demonstrated that using a mean score of this scale led to small and negligible amounts of attenuation in estimates and similar statistical conclusions compared to those derived from SEM. Our study adds to the field by introducing a practical, unidimensional measure of familism values that may be used across racial/ethnic groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Shifting the Gaze From Racism to Healing From Racism: A Systematic Review of Selected Psychology Journals From 1992 to 2022
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2024
Using a decolonial approach, we provided a narrative review of the research on racism in psychology and conducted a systematic review of the top five psychology journals publishing research on racism and mental health to identify trends in racism research over time and the research gaps. We examined 372 articles on racism published between 1992 and 2022: American Psychologist, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Journal of Black Psychology, Journal of Counseling Psychology, and The Counseling Psychologist. Based on our review, we found that published research examining racism has steadily increased over the past 3 decades, with the greatest spikes in 2021 and 2022. The largest increase was in studies focused on People of Color’s experiences with racism. The overwhelming majority of the articles were empirical (86.3%) and most of these studies (87.5%) employed cross-sectional designs. We identified corollary topics by racial/ethnic group, prevalent research designs, and the emergence of strength-based and healing approaches to address racism’s impact. There were general racial and ethnic differences in trends, with research on various People of Color groups focused on the harmful effects of racism and research on White populations focused on Whiteness and level of awareness of racism. We conclude with recommendations to enhance the content and methodological rigor of future research while also suggesting policy implications to support advancements in this critical area of study.
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Evaluating the utility and validity of a discrimination‐specific measure of shift‐&‐persist coping
Article
  • Dec 2023
Shift‐&‐persist (S&P) coping has been shown to buffer against the effects of discrimination on psychosocial functioning in racially and ethnically minoritized youth. However, existing measures of S&P refer broadly to coping with stress and are not specifically tailored to the type of stressor individuals are coping with (e.g., discrimination). The current study evaluated the measurement properties, utility, and validity of a discrimination‐specific adapted measure of S&P relative to an existing, general measure among a sample of 327 minoritized youth ( M age = 18.80, SD = 1.28, 78.6% female, 50.5% Black) recruited from a large public minority‐serving institution in the southeastern United States. Contrary to our hypotheses, when the item stem was changed to refer to coping specifically with discrimination, the measurement properties of a validated S&P scale (Lam et al., 2018) were worse relative to the original measure. Overall, the general S&P measure produced larger main effects and explained two times more variance in depressive symptoms than discrimination‐specific S&P. Findings do not rule out the idea that context‐specific measures may better characterize coping with discrimination experiences than ‘trait‐like’ general coping measures. However, results highlight that small adaptations to current measures may not be sufficient and may compromise predictive validity. Coping with discrimination measurement recommendations is discussed.
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What Is the Power of Identity? Examining the Moderating Role of Racial-Identity Latent Profiles on the Relationship Between Race-Related Stress and Trauma Symptoms Among Black American Women
Article
  • May 2023
In the current study, we investigated the emergence of racial-identity latent profiles and the potential for racial-identity profiles to moderate the relationship between race-related stress and trauma symptoms in nontreatment-seeking, trauma-exposed, Black American women ( N = 222). Racial-identity profiles emerged from latent profile analyses and supported a three-class solution: undifferentiated, detached, and nationalist. Analysis of variance revealed that the nationalist profile group experienced significantly higher race-related stress compared with the detached and undifferentiated profiles. Moderation analyses revealed racial-identity profile type predicted both total posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and each PTSD symptom cluster; specifically, the nationalist profile type buffered the effects of race-related stress on PTSD symptoms. This study illustrates how stress from racial discrimination influences PTSD symptoms and the ways racial identity may mitigate this relationship, which has the capacity to inform the adaptation of PTSD treatments for minoritized groups.
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Exploring Daily Mediating Pathways of Religious Identity in the Associations Between Maternal Religious Socialization and Muslim American Adolescents’ Civic Engagement
Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2020
Despite its implications for positive youth development, factors and processes that promote civic engagement are critically understudied, particularly among Muslim American adolescents for whom opportunities for civic engagement could be hindered by Islamophobia and hate crimes. Prior work has proposed that parents can strengthen adolescents’ group belonging and motivate their civic engagement, but this mediating link has not been empirically tested. Moreover, parents’ religious socialization and adolescents’ religious identity remain understudied, especially with respect to possible daily fluctuations. We used experience sampling methods to: (1) explore momentary fluctuations and temporal relations between two dimensions of Muslim American adolescents’ religious identity (i.e., private regard and centrality) over the course of 14 days (Phase 2); and (2) examine if Muslim American adolescents’ momentary religious identity (Phase 2) mediated associations between their stable perceptions of maternal religious socialization (Phase 1) and subsequent civic engagement (Phase 3). Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling revealed positive autoregressive and cross-lagged relations between religious private regard and centrality. Moreover, adolescents’ momentary religious identities differentially mediated the associations between maternal religious socialization and civic attitudes and behaviors, suggesting specificity in these developmental processes. Our findings have important implications for programs and policies to support the self-empowerment and positive development of Muslim American adolescents.
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Coping and Culture: The Protective Effects of Shift-&-Persist and Ethnic-Racial Identity on Depressive Symptoms in Latinx Youth
Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2019
  • J YOUTH ADOLESCENCE
Shift-&-persist is a coping strategy that has been shown to lead to positive health outcomes in low-SES youth but has not yet been examined with respect to psychological health. This study tests whether the shift-&-persist coping strategy works in tandem with ethnic-racial identity to protect against depressive symptoms in the face of two uncontrollable stressors: economic hardship and peer discrimination. In a sample of 175 Latinx youth (51.4% female; Mage = 12.9), shift-&-persist buffered the positive relation between economic hardship and depressive symptoms. In terms of peer discrimination, among youth who reported little use of shift and persist, discrimination was related to higher depressive symptoms, whereas youth who reported higher amounts of shift and persist (at and above the mean) were protected and did not evidence this association. However, among youth with high ethnic-racial identity, shift-&-persist failed to protect against the deleterious association between peer discrimination and depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that shift-&-persist is protective for Latinx youth, although the context in which it is protective changes based on the racialized/non-racialized nature of the stressor.
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The Coping Circumplex Model: An Integrative Model of the Structure of Coping With Stress
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Full-text available
  • Apr 2019
It seems obvious that the identification of coping structure is necessary to understand how stress affects human health and functioning. Despite numerous coping conceptualization proposals, there is no agreement as to the core coping categories. This article presents the Coping Circumplex Model (CCM), which is designed to integrate various coping distinctions, drawing inspiration from the tradition of circumplex models in psychology. The model is based on the assumption that individuals in stressful situations face two tasks: they need to solve the problem and regulate their emotions, which are reflected in two corresponding dimensions, that is, the problem coping dimension and emotion coping dimension. Problem coping and emotion coping are interpreted as bipolar dimensions. Importantly, these dimensions define a space for other coping categories. The model contains a total of eight coping styles forming a circumplex: positive emotional coping, efficiency, problem solving, preoccupation with the problem, negative emotional coping, helplessness, problem avoidance, and hedonic disengagement. The paper discusses the potential of the CCM to overcome some of the problems of stress psychology by: (a) supplementing the set of coping categories (i.e., process, strategy, style) with coping mode; (b) providing a foundation for the integration of numerous coping constructs; (c) enabling the interpretation of results obtained by means of different coping measures, thus facilitating knowledge consolidation; (d) explaining relationships between coping and adjustment after trauma, as well as explaining the mechanisms of psychological interventions (e.g., cognitive therapy, exposure therapy); (e) clarifying linkages between the effectiveness of coping strategies and situation controllability. Moreover, the CCM may elucidate the relationship between coping and emotion regulation (e.g., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression).
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Moderating the Association Between Discrimination and Adjustment: A Meta-Analysis of Ethnic/Racial Identity
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Full-text available
  • Mar 2019
The detrimental effects of discrimination are well documented; however, the influence of ethnic/racial identity (ERI) on this association is equivocal. There is theoretical and empirical support for both protective and detrimental effects of ERI. This meta-analysis includes 53 effect sizes from 51 studies and 18,545 participants spanning early adolescence to adulthood to synthesize the interaction of ERI and discrimination for adjustment outcomes. Consistent with existing meta-analyses, discrimination was associated with compromised adjustment; further, this effect was buffered by overall ERI particularly for academic and physical health outcomes. Different ERI dimensions and adjustment outcomes revealed important patterns. ERI exploration increased vulnerabilities associated with discrimination, particularly for negative mental health and risky health behaviors. The exacerbating influence of ERI exploration was strongest at age 24, and more recent publications reported weaker exacerbating effects. In contrast, ERI commitment conferred protection. A composite score of ERI exploration and commitment also conferred protection against discrimination. Sample demographics mattered. The buffering effect of ERI commitment was stronger for Latinx (compared with Asian heritage) individuals. The buffering effect of public regard was stronger for Asian heritage (compared with African heritage) individuals. For positive mental health outcomes, a composite score of ERI exploration and commitment had a stronger buffering effect for Latinx (compared with African heritage) individuals. For risky health behaviors, Latinx individuals reported a stronger buffering effect of ERI (compared with African heritage and Asian heritage) individuals. The current meta-analysis identifies gaps in the literature and offers suggestions for future research.
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How Do Young People Become Politically Engaged?
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Full-text available
  • Apr 2019
Despite the importance of examining how adolescents and young adults contribute solutions to society's pressing problems, gaps in the literature leave unanswered the question of how young people become politically engaged. Research suggests that youth learn to be political by forming attachments to their communities and accessing opportunities in the settings of their everyday lives. Settings operate as mini‐polities through which youth develop a sense of what it means to be a member of a collective. Meaningful opportunities to practice political skills and behaviors can be fostered in schools and communities, via social media, and through policy change. Historic events, particularly elections, can also influence political attitudes and behaviors in lasting ways. Cultural and contextual variability in experiences, access to opportunities, and reactions to historic events shape youth's political developmental pathways. Research that is developmentally and culturally informed and that uses rigorous study designs can identify more effectively what determines the formation and growth of youth political engagement.
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Youth Anti-Racist Engagement: Conceptualization, Development, and Validation of an Anti-Racism Action Scale
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Full-text available
  • Dec 2019
Scholarship on youth engagement indicates that adolescents address social issues of public concern, but it is not clear how youth challenge racism. This gap in the literature stems from indirect conceptualizations and a lack of quantitative measurement of adolescents’ acts to oppose racism. Correspondingly, this study presents the validation of a measure of youth anti-racism action. Study 1 describes the youth participatory approach used in the development of the Anti-Racism Action Scale and presents the results from an exploratory factor analysis that examined the measure’s initial factor structure and reliability. The factor structure of the 22-item measure was explored with a diverse sample of adolescents (Mage = 16.00, SD = 1.18; 61.7% girls, Black/African American [29.3%], Asian/South Asian [21.1%], White/European American [24.4%], Arab/Middle-Eastern [17.5%], Latino/Hispanic [4.5%], and Multiracial [3.3%]) enrolled in a race dialogue program (n = 249). The results indicated the measure consisted of three subscales: Interpersonal Action, Communal Action, and Political Change Action. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with an independent, nationally representative sample of youth (n = 384) from diverse backgrounds (Mage = 17.00, SD = 1.29, 51.0% girls, White/European American [26.1%], Black/African American [25.6%], Latino/Hispanic [19.3%], Asian/Pacific Islander [13.6%], Multiracial [9.9%], Native American [5.2%] and “other” [0.3%]). The results confirmed a three-factor model that resulted in a 16-item measure. Furthermore, tests of convergent validity tests were pursued between the Anti-Racism Action Scale and the Critical Consciousness Scale, a widely used measure of youths’ awareness of the structural causes of various forms of oppression, sense of sociopolitical agency, and social action. This study suggests that youth engagement in anti-racism is multidimensional and that notion of adolescent social action are more diverse than represented in the literature.
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Alternate Approaches to Coping in Latinx Adolescents From Immigrant Families
Article
  • Apr 2020
The aims of this mixed-methods study were (a) to explore quantitatively the fit of the COPE inventory (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) for Latinx youth from immigrant families, and (b) to explore qualitatively aspects of coping in this population. Participants were 175 Latinx adolescents (51% female), most of whom were U.S.-born with immigrant parents (88%) and primarily of Mexican origin (89%). The average age was 12.9 years for the quantitative study and 15.7 years for the qualitative study. Qualitative interviews engaged a subset (n = 14) of the full study. All participants lived in the southeastern United States and the research received institutional review board (IRB) approval. The confirmatory factor analysis of the COPE inventory was not a good fit for the sample. Thus, an exploration of alternative approaches to coping was undertaken (exploratory factor analysis [EFA] and qualitative interviews). A three-factor solution was selected as the best fit in the EFA; the researchers labeled the factors as “purposeful cognitive/behavioral engagement,” “support seeking,” and “separation/disengagement.” In the qualitative interview data, five main themes were described (relational coping, positive thinking/self-talk, planning, separating/disengaging, and behavioral coping). The researchers suggest implications for reframing coping with Latinx participants or collectivist groups, emphasizing the central role of cultural values.
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Latent Moderation Analysis: A Factor Score Approach
Article
  • Jul 2020
Moderation analysis with latent variables is an important topic in social science research. Although different methods have been proposed for latent moderation analysis in the past three decades, these methods have weaknesses in certain circumstances. We therefore propose the factor score approach as a straightforward and implementation-friendly alternative in latent moderation analysis. This approach has several advantages over other existing methods, such as being able to test higher-order interaction models and interaction-as-outcome models. We compared the empirical performance of the factor score approach and other commonly used methods, namely the unconstrained product indicator approach and the latent moderated structural equation approach, by conducting a simulation study. Results indicated that the factor score approach worked satisfactorily under a range of model conditions. Using these results, we can offer applied researchers some practical guidelines of use for the factor score approach with regard to the subject variable (N/P) ratio and reliability level.
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Diurnal Cortisol in a Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Sample of Chinese Children: Evidence for the Shift-and-Persist Hypothesis
Article
  • Dec 2018
Objective: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most well-established social determinants of health. However, little is known about what can protect the health of individuals (especially children) living in low-SES circumstances. This study explored whether the psychological strategy of "shift-and-persist" protects low-SES children from stress-related physiological risks, as measured through blunted (unhealthy) diurnal cortisol profiles. Methods: A sample of 645 children (aged 8-15 years) from low-SES backgrounds and having at least one HIV-positive parent completed a battery of psychological scales. Diurnal cortisol assessments included collection of saliva samples four times a day for 3 days, from which three cortisol parameters (cortisol at awakening, cortisol awakening response, and cortisol slope) were derived. Results: Higher levels of shift-and-persist, considered as a single variable, were associated with higher cortisol at awakening (B = 0.0119, SE = 0.0034, p < .001) and a steeper cortisol slope (B = -0.0007, SE = 0.0003, p = .023). These associations remained significant after adjusting for covariates and did not vary by age. In supplementary analyses, where shifting and persisting were treated as separate variables, the interaction between these two coping strategies significantly predicted cortisol at awakening (B = 0.0250, SE = 0.0107, p = .020) and the cortisol slope (B = -0.0022, SE = 0.0011, p = .040), suggesting that the combination of shift-and-persist is important for predicting diurnal cortisol profiles. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that shift-and-persist is associated with healthier diurnal cortisol profiles among socioeconomically disadvantaged children and introduce the possibility that this coping strategy is protective against other stressors, such as those uniquely faced by children in our study (i.e., being affected by parental HIV).
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