Anti-Blackness and psychological stress: The application of critical race psychology and minority stress theory among Black communities

Abstract

Increased anti-Blackness, including interpersonal racist encounters and macro forms such as extrajudicial killings by the state, have demonstrated that Black communities and their psychological well-being are in a precarious position. Extant research has revealed that increased encounters with anti-Blackness are related to excessive psychological stress. However, the role of stigma awareness, its relationship to anti-Blackness and psychological stress, and our understanding of the relationship among subgroup identities (e.g., gender) remain underdeveloped. Appropriately, the current work adopted critical race psychology and minority stress theory and explored Black individuals’ (N = 410) experience with anti-Blackness, stigma awareness, and their relationship to psychological stress. Results demonstrated that experience with anti-Blackness was positively associated with increased physical, emotional, and cognitive stress; however, stigma awareness mediated only emotional stress. In addition, among the sample, Black men and Black individuals with increased education (e.g., received a college degree) reported increased levels of psychological stress compared to Black women and less educated Black individuals.