Temporal Relations and the Role of Coping Flexibility in Black Adults’ Coping Responses to Ethnic-Racial Discrimination

Abstract

In the United States, experiences of ethnic and racial discrimination (ERD) are associated with poor well-being outcomes which are believed to contribute to disparities in the prevalence and chronicity of mental health disorders for Black individuals. Prior studies have explored how coping responses to ERD may mitigate the negative impacts of ERD on well-being, though thus far, findings have been mixed and suggest there are various contextual factors that influence the relation of ERD, coping, and well-being. Building on prior literature, using ecological momentary assessment, the current study investigated temporal relations of coping, discrimination, and mood at the daily level and explored the moderating effect of coping flexibility. It was hypothesized discrimination would be associated with increased negative mood, individuals would use more avoidant and emotion-focused strategies in response to concurrent experiences of discrimination, and more problem focused coping in response to prior experiences (i.e. lagged) of discrimination at the daily level, and that these patterns of coping would moderate the relation of discrimination and mood, reducing the positive association. Exploratory analyses were also conducted to explore whether coping flexibility would also moderate the relation between discrimination and mood. Contrary to hypotheses, results suggest discrimination is related to more use of varied coping strategies and increased negative mood in the moment, and for some outcomes, coping during periods of high discrimination is associated with less negative mood. Factors to consider in future research, including methodology and sample characteristics, are discussed.