Racism: Perceptions of distress among African Americans

Some scholars have suggested that stressful living conditions are a major source of mental disorder among African Americans (Krieger, 1999; Neighbors, 1990; Kessler & Neighbors, 1986). There has, however, been debate as to whether this higher level of distress is due to racism or the fact that African Americans are more often of lower socioeconomic status. Stressors that play a significant role in mental disorder might be expected to occur more frequently among African Americans than the general population. This paper attempts to provide empirical support for the notion that racism is a separate and unique source of stress for African Americans. Specifically, it was hypothesized that African Americans would report more experiences of (1) daily stress and (2) racism than other groups and (3) the impact of racial stress would be greater among African Americans. One hundred and fifty six participants completed the Daily Stress Inventory and the Experience of Discrimination questionnaire. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that African Americans reported higher impact of discrimination scores than European Americans. There were no gender or ethnicity differences in daily stress or the number of racial incidents reported. The implications of the data are discussed.