Race-Based Stress in White Adults: Exploring the Role of White Racial Identity Status Attitudes and Type of Racial Events

The impact of racial experiences on Whites has been underresearched and has rarely been considered traumatic. To understand these experiences, it is important to consider variation in one's orientation to their racial group (i.e., racial identity) and the type of racial encounter. Using a White adult sample and hierarchical cluster analysis, the authors found that reactions to race-based encounters were associated with varying levels of psychological distress and well-being and racial identity statuses. Clinical implications are discussed. El impacto de las experiencias raciales en personas blancas no ha sido suficientemente investigado y en raras ocasiones ha sido considerado traumatico. Para comprender estas experiencias, es importante considerar la variacion en la orientacion de cada individuo hacia su grupo racial (es decir, la identidad racial) y el tipo de encuentro racial. Usando una muestra de personas adultas blancas y un analisis jerarquico de clusteres, los autores hallaron que las reacciones a los encuentros raciales estaban asociadas a niveles variables de malestar psicologico, asi como de estados de bienestar e identidad racial.