Race-Related Stress, Racial Identity, and Activism Among Young Black Men: A Person-Centered Approach

The current study examines how race-related stress, physiological and psychological anticipation of racism, relates to low-risk and high-risk activism orientations for Black adolescent boys and emerging adult men (N = 286). We investigate whether patterns of racial identity and age moderate those relationships. We found that physiological and psychological anticipation of racism were related to low-risk Black community activism orientation, and those relationships varied by age and racial identity. The relationship between physiological anticipation of racism and high-risk activism orientation was moderated by racial identity profiles. For Black adolescent boys and emerging adult men with racial identity profiles that support individual and communal value of Blackness, more physiological anticipation was related to a greater likelihood of engaging in risky activism in the future. Findings highlight the importance of understanding how stress responses to racism influence youth commitments to future activism. These findings also underscore heterogeneity of racial identity among Black adolescent boys and emerging adult men, and how patterns of racial identity and age differentially influence orientations toward activism against racial oppression.