The Moderating Role of Ethnic Identity and Perceived Discrimination on Anxiety and Depression

Abstract

Key models of depression and anxiety across ethnic groups emphasize the role of ethnic identity (EI) as protective and perceived discrimination (PD) as a risk factor for psychopathology. Some research suggests EI may buffer, and other research suggests it may increase, the relation between PD, anxiety, and depression within minority samples. The current study examined the role of EI and PD on symptoms of depression/anxiety in African Americans, Latinx, and European Americans. We hypothesized: 1) Higher EI will predict lower depression and anxiety in African Americans and Latinx compared to European Americans; 2) Higher PD will predict higher depression and anxiety for African Americans and Latinx compared to European Americans; and 3) The relation between PD, anxiety, and depression will be moderated by EI in that high levels of ethnic identity will weaken the relations between PD, anxiety, and depression only for the minority groups. Participants (n= 331) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. EI predicted lower anxiety and depression in African Americans and PD predicted higher anxiety and depression across ethnic groups. EI moderated the relation between PD and anxiety for both African Americans and Latinx, but only predicted depression in African Americans. Future research should explore what variables contribute to EI increasing or buffering relations between discrimination and psychopathology with longitudinal methods to draw casual claims.