Use your Module 2 Content Readings, Lecture, Media, Interview parents and/or grandparents, and research using our library resourcesLinks to an external site.:
The summary should include:
Effective face-to-face communication strategies that include nonverbal and verbal techniques.
Explain Technostress and Digital Toxicity.
How did people communicate before online resources?
How would you communicate if the internet and all electronic devices disappeared tomorrow? 
Using your textbook regarding Civility 101 along with interviews, identify and explain behaviors that are still in place and those that have diminished. Here is the name of the textbook, would be amazing if you could find a free version online. 

Summarize key points to this article Mental Health and ForgivingLinks to an external site.
After your 2 page summary, provide your interview. Must interview at least two people including parents, grandparents, neighbors, (at least a couple generations before yours), etc. Include dialogue. Interview questions should include; how they communicated “back in the good ole days”, their opinion on social etiqutte/manners back then and now (is there a difference?), and lastly, see the bullet above regarding the Civility 101.
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Published in final edited form as:
J Behav Med. 2009 February ; 32(1): 64–88. doi:10.1007/s10865-008-9193-0.
Coping With Racism: A Selective Review of the Literature and a
Theoretical and Methodological Critique
Elizabeth Brondolo, Ph.D.,
St. John’s University
Nisha Brady, M.A.,
St. John’s University
Melissa Pencille,
St. John’s University
Danielle Beatty, Ph.D., and
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
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Richard J. Contrada
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Abstract Racism is a stressor that contributes to racial/ethnic disparities in mental and physical health and
to variations in these outcomes within racial and ethnic minority groups. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss key issues in the study of individual-level strategies for coping with interpersonal racism. We begin with a discussion of the ways in which racism acts as a stressor
and requires the mobilization of coping resources. Next, we examine available models for describing and conceptualizing strategies for coping with racism. Third, we discuss three major forms of coping: racial identity development, social support seeking and anger suppression and
expression. We examine empirical support for the role of these coping strategies in buffering the impact of racism on specific health-related outcomes, including mental health (i.e., specifically,
self-reported psychological distress and depressive symptoms), self-reported physical health,resting blood pressure levels, and cardiovascular reactivity to stressors. Careful examination of the
effectiveness of individual-level coping strategies can guide future interventions on both the individual and community levels.
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Racism is a stressor that contributes to racial/ethnic disparities in mental and physical health and to variations in health outcomes within racial and ethnic minority groups (Anderson
1989; Clark et al. 1999; Mays et al. 2007; Paradies 2006; Williams and Williams-Morris
2000). Racism, in particular, self-reported ethnic or racial discrimination is a highly
prevalent phenomenon. Members of most ethnic or racial minority groups report exposure over the course of their lifetime, and recent research indicates that episodes of ethnicityrelated maltreatment occur on a weekly basis for some groups (Brondolo et al. 2009). The evidence points consistently to a relationship between self-reported racism and mental health impairments, specifically negative mood and depressive symptoms (Brondolo et al. 2008;
Kessler Mickelson and Williams 1999; Paradies 2006). Some evidence has linked selfreported racism to hypertension and a more consistent body of evidence has linked racism to risk factors for hypertension and/or coronary heart disease (Brondolo et al. 2003, 2008;
Harrell et al. 2003; Lewis et al. 2006; Peters 2004; Steffen and Bowden 2006). Racism has also been linked to several other health conditions (Paradies 2006), and to perceived health,
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which is itself a predictor of all-cause mortality (Borrell et al. 2007; Jackson et al. 1996;
Schulz et al. 2006).
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Since racism persists within the US, it is critical to identify the strategies individuals use to cope with this stressor and to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies. As noted by
Fischer & Shaw (1999), in 1996 the National Advisory Mental Health Council highlighted
the importance of investigating individual-level factors that buffer the health effects of discrimination (Fischer and Shaw 1999). Although the knowledge base has grown since 1996, there is an ongoing need for greater understanding of the ways in which individuals can mitigate the health risks associated with racial/ethnic discrimination.
The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss key issues in the study of individual-level strategies for coping with interpersonal racism. It is important to note that we do not intend this review to communicate the idea that the burden of coping with racism should be placed
on the shoulders of targeted individuals alone. Eliminating racism and the effects of racism on health will require interventions at all levels: from the individual to the family,
community, and nation. Nonetheless, careful examination of the effectiveness of individuallevel coping strategies is needed to guide future interventions at both the individual and other levels.
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We begin with a discussion of the ways in which racism acts as a stressor and requires the mobilization of coping resources. Next, we examine available models for describing and conceptualizing strategies for coping with racism. Third, we discuss three major approaches to coping: racial identity development, social support seeking, and anger suppression and expression. These coping approaches have received sufficient research attention to permit a systematic review of evidence regarding their effectiveness for both mental and physical
health outcomes. In addition, these coping approaches are intuitively plausible as potential buffers of the effects of racism on health, and if shown to be effective, would lend themselves to skills and information-based intervention approaches. We examine empirical support for the role of these coping approaches in buffering the impact of racism on mental health-related outcomes (i.e., specifically, self-reported psychological distress and
depressive symptoms), self-reported physical health, resting blood pressure levels, and cardiovascular reactivity to stressors. These outcomes were chosen because they have been among those most consistently identified as correlates of racism (Paradies 2006). Finally, we discuss theoretical and methodological issues that are important to consider when conducting and evaluating research on strategies for coping with racism. Although much of the research on coping with racism has focused on African American samples, we have included the available data on other groups, including individuals of Asian and Latino(a)
descent as well.
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Definitions
Clark et al. (1999, p. 805) define racism as “the beliefs, attitudes, institutional arrangements,
and acts that tend to denigrate individuals or groups because of phenotypic characteristics or ethnic group affiliation”. Contrada and others (2000, 2001) use the more general term ethnic discrimination to refer to unfair treatment received because of one’s ethnicity, where “ethnicity” refers to various grouping of individuals based on race or culture of origin. We consider racism a special form of social ostracism in which phenotypic or cultural characteristics are used to assign individuals to an outcast status, rendering them targets of
social exclusion, harassment, and unfair treatment.
Racism exists at multiple levels, including interpersonal, environmental, institutional, and cultural (Harrell 2000; Jones 1997, 2000; Krieger 1999). However, the bulk of empirical
research on coping with racism focuses on strategies for coping with interpersonal racism.
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Interpersonal racism has been defined by Krieger as “directly perceived discriminatory
interactions between individuals whether in their institutional roles or as public and private individuals” (Krieger 1999, p. 301). Racism may have deleterious effects even when the target does not consciously perceive the maltreatment or attribute it to racism. However, this review considers the effectiveness of individual-level coping strategies employed to address episodes of racism that are both directly experienced and perceived. This focus on an interpersonal approach to examining racism is consistent with much recent work by Smith
and colleagues examining the health effects of other psychosocial stressors (e.g., poverty) within an interpersonal context (see, for example, Gallo et al. 2006; Ruiz et al. 2006; Smith
et al. 2003).
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Types of ethnicity-related maltreatment—Racism/ethnic discrimination can
encompass a wide range of acts including social exclusion, workplace discrimination,
stigmatization, and physical threat and harassment (Brondolo et al. 2005a; Contrada et al.
2001). Social exclusion includes a variety of different interactions in which individuals are
excluded from social interactions, rejected, or ignored because of their ethnicity or race.
Stigmatization can include both verbal and non-verbal behavior directed at the targeted
individual that communicates a message that demeans the targeted person (e.g.,
communicates the idea that the targeted individual must be lazy or stupid because he or she
belongs to a particular racial or ethnic group). Workplace discrimination includes acts
directed at individuals of a particular race or ethnicity that range from the expression of
lowered expectations to a refusal to promote or hire. Threat and harassment can include
potential or actual damage to an individual or his or her family or property because of
ethnicity or race. Any of these discriminatory acts can be overt, such that the racial bias is
made explicit (e.g., when accompanied by racial slurs), or the acts can be covert such that
racial bias may not be directly stated but is implicit in the communication (Taylor and
Grundy 1996).
Racism as a stressor
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A number of conceptual models, including those which consider racism within stress and
coping frameworks, have described the ways that racism may confer risk for health
impairment (Anderson et al. 1989; Clark et al. 1999; Harrell et al. 1998; Krieger 1999; Mays
et al. 2007; Outlaw 1993; Williams et al. 2003). In general, each model emphasizes the need
to consider the acute effects of individual incidents of ethnicity-related maltreatment, as well
as factors that sustain the damaging effects of these events. They highlight the importance of
considering racism as a unique stressor, and as a factor that may interact with other potential
race and non-race-related stressors, including low socioeconomic status and neighborhood
crime. Racism itself and the environmental conditions associated with racism (e.g.,
neighborhood segregation) limit access to coping resources. The cumulative effects of acute
and sustained stress exposure, combined with limited coping resources are likely to cause
perturbations in neuroendocrine and autonomic systems that respond to acute stressors and
that maintain or re-establish physiological homeostasis (Gallo and Matthews 2003; McEwen
and Lasley 2003, 2007).
From the perspective of the targeted individual, racism is a complex stressor, requiring a
range of different coping resources to manage both practical and emotional aspect of the
stressor. Features of the racist incident, as well as the corresponding coping demands, may
vary depending upon the physical, social, and temporal context of exposure. Targets must
cope with the substance of racism, such as interpersonal conflict, blocked opportunities, and
social exclusion. They must also manage the emotional consequences, including painful
feelings of anger, nervousness, sadness, and hopelessness, and their physiological correlates.
Targets may also need to manage their concerns about short and long term effects of racism
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on other members of their group, including their friends and family members. Indirect
effects of racism (e.g., poverty, environmental toxin exposure, changes in family structure)
may require additional coping efforts (Mays et al. 1996). A theme that may cut across and
link many or even most of the coping tasks posed by racism is the management of damage to
self-concept and social identity (Mellor 2004).
Episodes of ethnicity or race-based maltreatment can occur in a number of different venues.
The effectiveness of the coping response may vary depending on the context in which the
maltreatment occurs. Factors that may influence the choice and effectiveness of a coping
strategy include variations in the intensity and nature of the threat, the perceived degree of
intentionality of the perpetrator, the potential consequences of the act and of the coping
response, the availability of resources to assist the target, and perceptions of the need to
repeatedly muster different coping resources and the appraisal of one’s ability to do so
(Richeson and Shelton 2007; Scott 2004; Scott and House 2005; Swim et al. 2003).
Different types of coping may be needed at different points in time: in anticipation of
potential exposure to ethnicity-related maltreatment, at the time of exposure, following the
episode, and when considering longer term implications of persistent or recurring exposure.
The strategies that are effective for quickly terminating a specific episode of maltreatment
are not necessarily the same as those needed to manage the possibility of longer term
exposure. A variety of coping strategies may be needed at each point.
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Consequently, one of the most serious challenges facing minority group members is the
need to develop a broad range of racism-related coping responses to permit them to respond
to different types of situations and to adjust the response depending on factors that might
influence the effectiveness of any particular coping strategy. Targets must also develop the
cognitive flexibility to implement an appropriate and effective strategy in each of the wide
range of situations in which they may be exposed to discrimination, judge the relative costs
and benefits of these strategies, and deploy them as needed over prolonged periods of time.
This level of coping flexibility is beneficial, but difficult to achieve (Cheng 2003). The
perception that one’s coping capacity is not adequate to meet the demands increases the
likelihood that ethnicity-related maltreatment will be experienced as a chronic stressor.
Coping with racism: models and measures
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There are a number of early models (Allport 1954; Harrell 1979) of the different strategies
individuals used to respond to racism that have been reviewed in Mellor (2004). Some of the
difficulties with these models are a function of more general problems with models of
coping that have been well reviewed elsewhere (Skinner et al. 2003). Other concerns are
more specific to the difficulties of developing models for coping with racism.
Most models fail to explicitly incorporate strategies designed to manage the interpersonal
conflict associated with ethnicity-related maltreatment as well as with its emotional
sequelae. They do not always include strategies both for coping with an acute event (i.e.,
responding to the perpetrator during episodes of ethnicity-related maltreatment) and for
coping with the awareness that race-related maltreatment is likely to be an ongoing stressor.
Additionally, it can also be difficult to determine if the coping strategies included in the
models are intended to address racism specifically or the various consequences of
discrimination, such as unemployment, denial of a job promotion, or poverty.
More recent work has utilized dimensions of coping that are more explicitly tied to theories
of stress and coping, including problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, approach
versus avoidance coping, and social support (Danoff-Burg et al. 2004; Scott 2004; Scott and
House 2005; Thompson Sanders 2006). However, as Mellor (2004) points out, many of the
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strategies included in models of coping responses can only be loosely organized according
to available rubrics for categorizing coping strategies. For example, it is unclear how to
classify spirituality and Africultural coping, which appear to represent multifaceted
strategies with some aspects involving problem-focused coping and others involving
emotion-focused coping (Constantine et al. 2002; Lewis-Coles and Constantine 2006; Utsey
et al. 2000a). There have been inconsistencies even within specific coping domains. For
example, seeking social support when confronted by racism has been considered an
approach coping strategy (Scott 2004; Scott and House 2005; Thompson Sanders 2006), a
problem-focused coping strategy (Noh and Kaspar 2003; Plummer and Slane 1996), an
emotion-focused strategy (such as when seeking emotional social support) (Tull et al. 2005),
an avoidance strategy (if it involves venting, but no direct confrontation), and a strategy in
an entirely separate category (Danoff-Burg et al. 2004; Swim et al. 2003; Utsey et al.
2000b).
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Mellor (2004) suggests an alternate framework for organizing racism-related coping that
focuses on the function of the coping strategies versus the content of their focus. His model
highlights the importance of distinguishing between tasks that serve to prevent personal
injury (e.g., denial, acceptance) from those that are intended to remediate, prevent, or punish
racism (e.g., assertiveness, aggressive retaliation). This functional approach may be an
important step toward developing more effective models of coping with racism, particularly
if the purpose is closely linked to the various specific challenges that face targets of
discrimination.
Measurement issues
The development of more comprehensive models is further limited by the small number of
instruments available to assess racism-related coping. The Perceived Racism Scale
(McNeilly et al. 1996) is one of the only instruments available to assess strategies for coping
with racism. It is intended for use with African Americans and measures both exposure to
experiences of ethnicity-related maltreatment and coping responses to the exposure. For
each venue or domain in which racist events might occur (i.e., job-seeking, educational
settings, the health-care system), participants are asked to indicate the cognitive, affective,
and behavioral responses used to cope with each experience. Other researchers have used
generic coping scales (e.g., the Ways of Coping or the Spielberger Anger Expression
Inventory) and modified the presentation to inquire about coping in response to race-related
maltreatment (e.g., Brondolo et al. 2005b).
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Each of these measures is subject to the limitations of traditional self-reported trait coping
indices (Lazarus 2000). It is difficult to evaluate the timing or circumstances in which the
coping response is used. For example, when the Self-Report Coping Scale (Causey and
Dubow 1992) is applied to the study of racism-coping (e.g., Scott and House 2005),
participants indicate the degree to which they use strategies such as externalizing (i.e.,
getting mad or throwing things) as a response to race-related stress. It is unclear if the item
refers to expressing anger at the perpetrator of the racist acts (possibly a problem-focused or
approach coping strategy) or discharging anger later when thinking about specific incidents
(possibly an emotion-focused coping strategy).
Careful delineation of the timing and function of the coping strategy is valuable, because
there may be some strategies that are effective in the short run, but counterproductive if used
persistently over time. For example, “keeping it to myself” may be a safe strategy to use as
an immediate course of action in a situation in which the target may face immediate
retaliation, but may be deleterious once the acute maltreatment has ended. Similarly, there
may be strategies that are effective and acceptable in some settings, but not others. Measures
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which include items assessing both immediate and longer term responses and inquire about
the circumstances of exposure to maltreatment are needed.
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How do people cope with racism?—There are no population-based epidemiological
data on the strategies most commonly used to cope with episodes of ethnicity-related
maltreatment at the time of the event. There are very limited population-based data on the
strategies used to manage discrimination in general. In a population-based sample of over
4,000 Black and White men and women, participants were asked about the ways they
handled episodes of racial discrimination (Krieger and Sidney 1996). Most (69–78%
depending on race and gender group) indicated they would “try to do something and talk to
others.” Only 17–19% indicated that they would “accept it as a fact of life and talk to
others.” Most individuals (86–97%) indicated that they would talk to others whether they
took action in response to racism or accepted the racist behavior (Krieger and Sidney 1996).
In contrast to the tendency of Black and White Americans to indicate that they would try to do something about racism, other research suggests that Asian immigrants in Canada would prefer to “regard it as a fact of life, avoid it or ignore it” (Noh et al. 1999). The ethnic and national differences in response suggest that the moderating effects of culture and immigration status on racism and coping must be further evaluated in larger ethnically diverse population-based studies.
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Evaluating different coping approaches
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In the next three sections, we review in detail the data on the effectiveness of three coping
approaches that have been considered as responses to racism: racial identity development,social support seeking, and confrontation/anger coping. We restrict the reviews to published, peer-reviewed papers. For each topic area, studies for consideration were identified by accessing all major databases including PsychInfo, ERIC, MEDLINE, and Sociology
Abstracts, using both ProQuest and EBSCO search engines. We included thesaurus terms racism, ethnic discrimination, racial discrimination, race discrimination, race-related stress. For a general review, we included the terms: coping, active coping, approach coping,stress-management. For the specific review on racial and ethnic identity, we included the terms: racial identity, ethnic identity, and racial socialization. For the section on social support, we included terms: support, social support, support coping, active coping,approach coping. For the section on anger, we included the terms: confrontation, anger,anger expression, anger suppression, anger management, anger-in, anger-out. We further searched the reference sections of each paper to identify additional studies. We also examined all published work of each author of each paper to determine if additional studies could be identified. Examining the empirical data on these three coping approaches highlights in specific detail some of the methodological issues involved in research investigating effective strategies for coping with racism.
Our evaluation of coping effectiveness focuses on stress-buffering effects. A coping
response may be said to buffer stress when, among individuals exposed to the stressor, those who engage in that response (or who engage in it to a greater degree) are less likely to experience a negative outcome than those who do not (or who engage in it to a lesser degree). The relative benefit associated with performing the coping response should be smaller or not at all in evidence among those who are not exposed to the stressor. It should be noted that stress-buffering is not the only manner in which a coping response might confer an advantage. Other models are plausible, including mediational models that describe
a causal chain in which exposure to stress promotes performance of the coping response which, in turn, promotes more positive outcomes. However, a focus on stress-buffering is warranted since the aim of the paper is to identify those strategies which might be effective in ameliorating the health effects of exposure to racism, and could form the basis of coping-
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based interventions. Figure 1 provides a graphical illustration of these different possible pathways.
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Racial/ethnic identity as a buffer of the effects of racism on distress
Based on Phinney (1990, 1996), Cokley (2007, p. 225) defines ethnic identity as “the
subjective sense of ethnic group membership that involves self-labeling, sense of belonging, preference for the group, positive evaluation of the ethnic group, ethnic knowledge, and involvement in ethnic group activities.” Similarly, racial identity has been defined as “a sense of group or collective identity based on one’s perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with a particular racial group” (Helms 1990, p. 3). There are differences of opinion about the degree to which ethnic and racial identity represent distinct constructs (Cross and Strauss 1998; Helms 1990; Phinney and Ong 2007). Definitions of
both constructs include a focus on shared history, values, and a common heritage. However,those who advocate the study of racial identity as a separate construct suggest that it entails a complex developmental process, reflecting the individual’s attempts to resolve the
problems associated with racism directed both at the individual and at the group as a whole.
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How could racial or ethnic identity serve as a coping strategy?—Racial and
ethnic identity are generally considered individual difference variables, (i.e., an underlying set of schemas that help individuals make sense of and respond to their experiences as a member of their ethnic or racial group) (Cross and Strauss 1998; Helms 1990; Phinney and
Ong 2007). However, researchers explicitly link the process of developing an ethnic identity to other acts that can have stress-buffering effects (Phinney et al. 2001). Some research explicitly frames ethnic identity as a variable possessing characteristics similar to other
potential coping responses, capable of buffering the effects of stress exposure (see for example, Lee 2003). Despite the ambiguity about the degree to which racial identity can be considered within the domain of coping resources, research on racial identity has a potential impact on public health. If racial identity is mutable, and aspects of racial identity are effective in modifying psychological or psychophysiological responses to racism, those aspects of identity could be incorporated into health communications and could guide racial socialization practices.
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Racial/ethnic identity may serve as a coping mechanism in several different ways.
Specifically, some aspects of racism may influence the salience of race-related maltreatment and affect the subsequent appraisals of and coping responses to these events (Oyserman et
al. 2003, Quintana 2007). A well-developed racial identity may be associated with historical and experiential knowledge about one’s own group and its social position. In turn this knowledge may help a targeted individual distinguish between actions directed at the person as an individual versus those directed at the person as a member of a particular group (Cross
2005). This can protect targeted individuals from injuries to self-esteem or distress when
they are exposed to negative events that may be a function of ethnic discrimination rather
than individual characteristics of behavior (Branscombe et al. 1999; Mossakowski 2003;
Sellers and Shelton 2003). Racial socialization could provide an individual with an opportunity to consider possible approaches to this maltreatment and could serve to expedite the implementation of coping responses (Hughes et al. 2006). Ethnic connection and
belonging could ameliorate some of the pain of ostracism from other groups.
Appreciating the potential benefits of a well-developed sense of ethnic or racial identity, investigators have generated a large body of research that has examined the nature of racial and ethnic identity, and a smaller body of research that has tested the hypothesis that a strong positive racial or ethnic identity might buffer the effects of racism on mental health/ J Behav Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 January 15.
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psychological distress. However, the findings to date have been conflicted and present a
number of methodological problems that need resolution.
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Our review identified 12 published peer-reviewed papers that explicitly tested the hypothesis that ethnic or racial identity buffers the effects of exposure to racism on psychological distress or depression (Banks and KohnWood 2007; Bynum et al. 2007; Fischer and Shaw 1999; Greene et al. 2006; Lee 2003, 2005; Mossakowski 2003; Noh et al. 1999; Sellers et al. 2003, 2006; Sellers and Shelton 2003; Wong et al. 2003). Details of the studies, including the samples, measures, and results, are presented in Table 1. The effects of ethnic identity as a buffer of the relationship of racism to depressive symptoms or psychological distress were tested in samples of African Americans, Filipinos, Koreans, South Asian Indians, and Latino(a)s, with most, but not all, studies employing samples of convenience.
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These studies assessed different aspects of ethnic or racial identity and used several different strategies for measuring these dimensions. Some investigators used measures of pride or belonging, including the Multi-Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Phinney 1992) or the private regard subscale of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI; Sellers et al. 1997). Other investigations included measures of racial centrality, a construct involving the degree to which one’s race or ethnicity forms an important part of self-concept (Sellers et al. 1997). Still other studies included aspects of racial identity that refer to the development of preparation for discrimination, including measures of racial socialization.
Three studies (Greene et al. 2006; Sellers et al. 2003; Wong et al. 2003) used longitudinal
designs to examine the degree to which racial identity buffers racism-related changes in depression. The remainder used cross sectional, correlational designs. In all the studies,participants completed measures of racial identity, perceived racism and a measure of depression or psychological distress. To test the buffering effects of racial identity, all
researchers directly examined the statistical interactions of racial identity and racism on
measures of distress, with the exception of those who used path analytic models (Sellers et
al. 2003).
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These studies provide only very limited evidence for the hypothesis that racial or ethnic identity buffers the effects of racism on psychological distress. Of the 12 studies specifically
examining effects of racism on distress or depression, only two found evidence of a
buffering effect of racial identity on at least one measure of distress (Fischer and Shaw
1999; Mossakowski 2003). One study was a population-based study investigating these
issues in Filipino-American adults (Mossakowski 2003). In this study, ethnic identity acted as a buffer only for the predictive effects of a single item.