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Objectives: Race-related stress due to institutional racism is a pervasive reality for Black college students and contributes to poor mental health outcomes such as anxious arousal symptoms. One framework which may account for this association between chronic stress and anxious arousal symptoms is the reserve capacity model. This study investigated whether racial identity dimensions (racial centrality, public regard, private regard) and sense of belonging to the racial group contribute to this population's reserve capacity and buffer the association between institutional race-related stress and anxious arousal symptoms., Method: A sample of 134 Black college students completed racial identity, sense of belonging, and mental health questionnaires. These data were subjected to multiple regression analysis to assess the main and interactive effects of institutional race-related stress and dimensions of interest as predictors of anxious arousal symptoms., Results: The analysis indicated that higher levels of institutional race-related stress, racial centrality, and public regard were each associated with higher levels of anxious arousal while higher levels of private regard and sense of belonging were associated with lower levels of anxious arousal. Further investigation of interaction effects revealed that high levels of sense of belonging and low levels of public regard, respectively, buffered the association between institutional race-related stress and anxious arousal symptoms., Conclusions: These findings illustrate how certain racial identity dimensions and sense of belonging contribute to the reserve capacity of Black students experiencing institutional race-related stress. Results are further discussed in the context of extant literature on Black racial identity and the university context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The current study used the Health Belief Model to develop a measure that assessed the emotional benefits and barriers of professional psychological services in an African American women sample. Data from 251 African American women recruited from online organizations from across the United States (n = 164) and a Midwestern university psychology subject pool (n = 87) were used for exploratory factor analysis. Results revealed a 2-factor structure of the Emotional Benefits and Barriers of Psychological Services (EBBPS) Scale: Life Enhancement and Concerns about Distress, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed with data from 208 African American women who were recruited from a Midwestern university psychology subject pool (n = 81), Mturk (n = 104), and online organizations across the United States (n = 23). Results confirmed the EFA 2-factor model and demonstrated superior fit compared with a unidimensional model as well as a 3 factor model. Both factors exhibited excellent internal consistency. Construct validity was supported given that EBBPS factors were correlated with theoretically related constructs, like psychological help-seeking attitudes, intentions to seek counseling, and cultural identity, as well as uncorrelated with theoretically unrelated constructs, like psychological distress. These findings support the utility and cultural relevance of the EBBPS with African American women. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Objective: This study used a minority stress framework to investigate the relationships between multiple stressors (e.g., general life stress, race related stress, and acculturative stress) and high-risk drinking behaviors in a sample of second-generation Black emerging adult college students across the United States., Method: Participants (n = 148) were recruited from U.S. colleges and universities as part of a large, multiwave cross-sectional study., Results: Findings from this study mirrored those in the extant literature: the positive relationship between race-related stress and high-risk drinking behaviors found in other marginalized groups. However, when all stressors were entered into the model, acculturative stress accounted for significant variance in high-risk drinking behaviors above and beyond general life and race-related stressors in second generation Black emerging adult college students., Conclusion: Findings underscore the need to better understand the influence of acculturative stress on high-risk drinking behaviors among second-generation Black emerging adult college students: an understudied population in both the acculturation and alcohol use literatures. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Objectives: A growing number of studies have documented the existence racial shooting biases against Black versus White targets (Correll et al., 2002). Little is known about individual differences that may moderate these biases. The goals of this study were to examine (a) whether White participants' fear of racial/ethnic minorities is associated with racial shooting biases, and (b) whether dehumanization and empathy moderate this effect., Method: Participants (N = 290) completed a dehumanization implicit association test and simulated shooting task, then reported their fear of racial minorities (i.e., White fear) and empathic ability., Results: We found that (a) individuals high in White fear showed a shooting bias, such that they had a lower threshold for shooting Black relative to White and East Asian targets, (b) Dehumanization moderated the White fear and shooting bias relation, such that individuals high in White fear and high in dehumanization had a significantly more liberal shooting threshold for Black versus White targets, and (c) Empathy moderated the White fear and shooting bias relation, such that people who were high in White fear and low in empathic ability had a more liberal shooting threshold for Black versus White targets. In sum, fearing racial/ethnic minorities can have devastating shooting bias outcomes for Black individuals, but this effect is stronger when people also dehumanize Black individuals, and weaker when people have high empathy., Conclusions: These findings contribute to the literature by identifying theory driven moderators that identify both risk and protective factors in predicting racial shooting biases. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

The Strong Black Woman (SBW) race-gender schema prompts African American women to use self-reliance and self-silence as coping strategies in response to stressors. Utilizing the coping strategies associated with the SBW race-gender schema could trigger anxiety and depression symptoms that may intensify when coupled with negative attitudes toward professional psychological help. The present study investigated whether African American women's endorsement of the SBW race-gender schema predicted increased symptoms of anxiety and depression and whether attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking intensified psychological distress. Data were collected from 95 participants ranging in age from 18 to 65. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated significant main effects for the SBW race-gender schema and greater anxiety and depression, respectively. Greater indifference to stigma, 1 dimension of help-seeking attitudes, predicted lower levels of anxiety. African American women's attitudes toward professional help-seeking did not moderate the associations between endorsement of the SBW race-gender schema and anxiety or depression, respectively. Finally, endorsement of the SBW race-gender schema was inversely and significantly associated with 2 facets of help-seeking attitudes: (a) psychological openness and (b) help-seeking propensity. Taken together, these findings provide empirical support for the role of cultural factors, like the SBW race-gender schema, in African American women's experience of psychological distress and potential underutilization of mental health services. Future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

We investigated 130 Black and Latino college students regarding their concerns, attitudes toward professional counseling, sources of support, and coping activities. We found that the Black and Latino cultural emphasis on interdependence influenced attitudes toward using professional resources such as a counselor. We also found a significant two-way interaction between gender and race for attitudes toward professional counseling: Black males had less favorable attitudes in comparison to Black females, while Latino males had more favorable attitudes than did Latino females. Both Black and Latino college students had favorable attitudes toward informal support networks. Differences between Black and Latino college students were found for reported concerns and coping sources. Implications for counseling theory, practice, and research are discussed.