Search

Early 20th century eugenicists propagated a system of ideas, values and dispositions that constituted adults with intellectual disability as the antithesis of the paradigmatic citizen, and a biological threat to society. The eugenic schema was encoded in sex-segregated institutionalization and, in many places, forced sterilization. These eugenic practices are no longer sanctioned. However, eugenic practices did not disappear. In this paper we argue that the eugenic schema is now encoded and purveyed through a multiplicity of social arrangements and practices that deny adults with intellectual disability the respect, opportunity and means necessary to participate on a par with others in social life. Such practices include, for example, covert or coerced contraception, and discriminatory child welfare interventions leading to high rates of custody deprivation. Drawing on relational theory, we problematize normative assumptions of embodiment and citizenship, which give rise to attributions of incapacity, and argue that adults with intellectual disability need what all other adults need to make and effect choices concerning their sexuality, relationships and parenthood, i.e., recognition, opportunity and support. • Eugenicists beget a schema constituting people with intellectual disability as unfit. • This schema was used to justify institutionalization and forced sterilization. • Sexual and reproductive control of people with intellectual disability is now covert. • The eugenic schema is encoded in a multiplicity of mundane social practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination is a risk factor for depression across the lifespan in minoritized racial/ethnic groups. This study tests a model proposing that social cognitive processes, including relational schemas, mediate the link between discrimination and depression. Relational schemas enable individuals to form mental representations of others, reflecting prior social learning and generating expectations about future social relations. Racism-related relational schemas include, among others, concerns about being rejected or invalidated, concerns about confirming negative stereotypes held by others, and cynical mistrust of others. Prior studies have typically examined the mediating role of one or two relational schemas in the association between discrimination and depression; less is known about the unique and combined effects of multiple dimensions of racism-related social cognition. The model was tested in a convenience sample of ethnically diverse, non-white participants recruited from two sites, a community medical center (N = 136; M age = 38, SD = 13.0) and a private university (N = 120; M age = 19.4, SD = 1.3), yielding a consolidated sample of 256 participants (64% women). Data were collected between September 2016 and April 2018. Participants completed paper-and-pencil self-report measures of exposure to interpersonal discrimination, depressive symptoms, and eight measures of relational schemas. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the eight relational schemas defined three primary dimensions: concerns about rejection and invalidation, social vigilance, and mistrust. A structural equation model in which the association between exposure to discrimination and depressive symptoms operates through latent factors representing three social-cognitive dimensions demonstrated adequate fit (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.04). A significant mediational effect was found only for concerns about rejection and invalidation. The conceptual model supported by this study may help inform psychological interventions aimed at mitigating the detrimental effects of racial/ethnic discrimination on mental health. • Interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms. • Discrimination is associated with relational schemas, a dimension of social cognition. • Discrimination-related schemas reflect concerns about rejection, vigilance, and mistrust. • Schemas mediate the relation of discrimination to depression. • Concerns about rejection and invalidation are the primary mediating mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]