In the present study, the Index of Race-Related Stress (IRRS) was administered to a sample of urban African American adolescents. This instrument has been used among samples of adult and collegiate African Americans, and the purpose of the present study was to examine the factor structure of adolescent responses. The scale was modified and administered to a sample of 324 African American adolescents. The results provided empirical evidence of validity for the IRRS, particularly as a measure of race-related stress among adolescents. The measure required some modifications, which included deletion of items and rewording some questions to make them relevant for an adolescent sample. Future research should consider the assessment of race-related stress among adolescent samples to understand its association with mental and physical health.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading MA: Addison-Wesley.
2.
American Psychological Association. (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 47, 1597-1611.
3.
Bowen-Reid, T. L., & Harrell, J. P. (2002). Racist experiences and health outcomes: An examination of spirituality as a buffer. Journal of Black Psychology, 28, 18-36.
4.
Broman, C. L. (1997). Race-related factors and life satisfaction among African Americans. Journal of Black Psychology, 23, 36-49.
5.
Bryant, F. B., & Yarnold, P. R. (1997). Principal-components analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In L. G. Grimm & P. R. Yarnold (Eds.), Reading and understanding multivariate statistics (pp. 99-136). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
6.
Bullock, S. C., & Houston, E. (1987). Perceptions of racism by Black medical students attending White medical schools. Journal of the National Medical Association, 79, 601-608.
7.
Clark, R., Anderson, N. B., Clark, V. R., & Williams, D. R. (1999). Racism as a stressor for African Americans: A biopsychosocial model. American Psychologist, 54, 805-816.
8.
Erikson, E. (1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. New York: Norton.
9.
Essed, P. (1990). Everyday racism: Reports from women of two cultures. Claremont, CA: Hunter House.
10.
Feagin, J. R., & Eckberg, D. L. (1980). Discrimination: Motivation, action, effects and context. Annual Review of Sociology, 6, 1-20.
11.
Fernando, S. (1984). Racism as a cause of depression. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 30, 41-49.
12.
Floyd, F. J., & Widaman, K. F. (1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286-299.
13.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
14.
Green, N. L. (1995). Development of the Perceptions of Racism Scale. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 27, 141-145.
15.
Harrell, S. P. (2000). A Multidimensional conceptualization of racism-related stress: Implications for the well being of people of color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 42-57.
16.
Jessor, R., Turbin, M. S., & Costa, F. M. (1998). Risk and protection in successful outcomes among disadvantaged adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2, 194-208.
17.
Jones, J. M. (1991). Racism: A cultural analysis of the problem. In R. Jones (Ed.), Black psychology (3rd ed., pp. 609-735). Hampton, VA: Cobb & Henry.
18.
Klonoff, E. A., & Landrine, H. (2000). Is skin color a marker for racial discrimination? Explaining the skin-color hypertension relationship. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 329-338.
19.
Krieger, N. (1990). Racial and gender discrimination: Risk factors for high blood pressure? Social Science and Medicine, 30, 1273-1281.
20.
Krieger, N., & Sidney, S. (1996). Racial discrimination and blood pressure: The CARDIA study of young Black and White adults. American Journal of Public Health, 86, 1370-1378.
21.
Krieger, N., Sidney, S., & Coakley, C. (1998). Racial discrimination and skin color in the CARDIA study: Implications for public health research. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 1308-1313.
22.
Landrine, H., & Klonoff, E. A. (1996). The schedule of racist events: A measure of racial discrimination and a study of its negative physical and mental health consequences. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 144-167.
23.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
24.
Mack, R. W. (1968). Race, class, and power. New York: American Book Company.
25.
McAdoo, H. P. (1982). Stress absorbing systems in Black families. Family Relations, 31, 479-488.
26.
McNeilly, M. D., Anderson, N. B., Armstead, C. A., Clark, R., Corbett, M., Robinson, E. L., et al. (1996). The Perceived Racism Scale: A multidimensional assessment of the experience of White racism among African Americans. Health, Ethnicity, and Disease, 6, 154-166.
27.
Miller, D. B. (1999). Racial socialization and racial identity: Can they promote resiliency for African American adolescents? Adolescence, 34, 493-501.
28.
Murry, V. M., Brown, P. A., Brody, G. H., Cutrona, C. E., & Simons, R. L. (2001). Racial discrimination as a moderator of the links among stress, maternal psychological functioning, and family relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 915-926.
29.
Neuspiel, D. R. (1996). Racism and perinatal addiction. Ethnicity and Disease, 6, 47-55.
30.
Outlaw, F. H. (1993). Stress and coping: The influence of racism on the cognitive appraisal processing of African Americans. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 14, 399-409.
31.
Plummer, D. L., & Slane, S. (1996). Patterns of coping in racially stressful situations. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 302-315.
32.
Rosnow, R. L., & Rosenthal, R. (1997). People studying people: Artifacts and ethics in behavioral research. New York: Freeman.
33.
Ruggiero, K. M., Taylor, D. M., & Lambert, W. E. (1996). A model of heritage culture maintenance: The role of discrimination. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20, 47-67.
34.
Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 316-332.
35.
Slavin, L. A., Rainer, K. L, McCreary, M. L., & Gowda, K. K. (1991). Toward a multicultural model of the stress process. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 156-163.
36.
Smith, E. M. (1985). Ethnic minorities: Life stress, social support, and mental health issues. The Counseling Psychologist, 13, 537-579.
37.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1996). Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
38.
Taylor, J. (1990). Relationship between internalized racism and marital satisfaction. Journal of Black Psychology, 16, 45-53.
39.
Taylor, J., & Turner, R. J. (2002). Perceived discrimination, social stress, and depression in the transition to adulthood: Racial contrasts. Social Psychology Quarterly, 65, 213-225.
40.
Taylor, R. D., & Roberts, D. (1995). Kinship support and parental and adolescent well being in economically disadvantaged African American families. Child Development, 66, 1585-1597.
41.
Thompson, B., & Daniel, L. G. (1996). Factor analytic evidence for the construct validity of scores: A historical overview and some guidelines. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 56, 196-209.
42.
Thompson, B. W. (1992). A way outa no way: Eating problems among African American, Latina, and White women. Gender & Society, 6, 546-551.
43.
Thompson, C. E., Neville, H., Weathers, P. L., Poston, W. C., & Atkinson, D. R. (1990). Cultural mistrust and racism reaction among African American students. Journal of College Student Development, 31, 162-168.
44.
Utsey, S. O. (1998). Assessing the stressful effects of racism: Areviewof instrumentation. Journal of Black Psychology, 24, 269-288.
45.
Utsey, S. O. (1999). Development and validation of a short form of the Index of Race-Related Stress (IRRS)—Brief version. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 32, 149-167.
46.
Utsey, S. O., Chae, M. H., Brown, C. F., & Kelly, D. (2002). Effect of ethnic group membership on ethnic identity, race related stress and quality of life. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8, 366-377.
47.
Utsey, S. O., & Ponterotto, J. G. (1996). Development and validation of the Index of Race-Related Stress (IRRS). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 490-502.
48.
Utsey, S. O., Ponterotto, J. G., Reynolds, A. L., & Cancelli, A. A. (2000). Racial discrimination, coping, life satisfaction, and self-esteem among African Americans. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78, 72-80.
49.
Zayas, L. H. (2000). Incorporating struggles with racism and ethnic identity in therapy with adolescents. Clinical Social Work Journal, 29, 361-373.
