Racist Events and Individual Coping Styles as Predictors of African American Activism

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine racist events and three individual coping styles (reflective, suppressive, and reactive) as predictors of involvement in African American activism in a sample of 269 African American women and men. In addition, it examined the moderating roles of individual coping styles in the racist events-African American activism link. Results indicated that racist events, reflective coping, and the interaction of racist events and reflective coping uniquely and significantly predicted involvement in African American activism, accounting for 33% of the variance. Racist events and reflective individual coping styles were related to involvement in African American activism. Results also supported a moderating role of individual reflective coping styles in the link between frequency of racist events and involvement in African American activism. That is, participants with high reflective coping engaged in more African American activism than participants with low reflective coping when experiences of racist events were low, but a larger number of racist events mitigated this effect.

Keywords

racism African American activism coping

Historically, many African American persons have relied on collective efforts as a racially oppressed group to work toward racial equality and improved social and economic conditions for African American people as a whole (Evans & George, 2008). Although blatant racism has decreased and living conditions have improved since the Civil Rights era, subtle forms of racism in the form of microaggressions (i.e., unintentional or intentional verbal comments and/or behaviors that convey negative, deprecating, or hostile racial insults) continue to plague many African American persons (Sue et al., 2007). In addition, the consequences of racial social stratification can still be seen in many spheres of life, including education, employment, housing, health care, and the political and legal systems (Sue, 2003).

Findings from qualitative studies suggest that involvement in African American activism, or what Brown (2008) called collective response strategies to oppression, is an important response to racism for some African American men and women (cf., Feagin & Sikes, 1994; Shorter-Gooden, 2004). However, the majority of research on resisting racism among African American persons has focused on individual coping responses to specific incidents of racism, such as relying on internal resources (e.g., self-esteem, hardiness, relying on faith/spirituality); confronting the perpetrator; minimizing, ignoring, or avoiding the racist behavior or perpetrator; engaging in role flexing (i.e., where an individual alters her/his outward behavior or presentation to fit in better with the dominant group and to lessen the impact of negative racial stereotypes and racist events); and seeking support from others (Bowleg, Huang, Brooks, Black, & Burkholder, 2003; Feagin & Sikes, 1994; Mallett & Swim, 2009; Plummer & Slane, 1996; Shorter-Gooden, 2004, Thompson, 2006; Utsey, Ponterotto, Reynolds, & Cancelli, 2000). Surprisingly, very little research has focused on African American person’s engagement in collective responses to oppression. However, research examining the links between sexism and feminist activism has been conducted (cf., Duncan, 1999; Liss, Crawford, & Popp, 2004; Stake, 2007; Szymanski & Owens, 2009; Yoder, Tobias, & Snell, 2011), underscoring the importance of activism as a variable of study. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which African American persons are involved in a range of African American activism activities and to investigate variables that may predict involvement in African American activism.

African American Activism

Activism is defined as intentional action aimed at fostering social and/or political change (Oxford English Dictionary, 2010; Stake, 2007; Szymanski, 2003). Thus, African American activism is action aimed to decrease and/or eradicate racism and its negative effects and to improve the everyday lives of African Americans and the African American community as a whole. Although many people think of activism as protest or the use of direct, often confrontational action, it actually includes a wide range of activities. Activism includes traditional activities such as boycotts or preferentially supporting businesses or organizations, rallies, strikes, and sit-ins. It also includes activities such as informed voting, letter writing to politicians or newspapers, joining community groups, and community organizing. Furthermore, it includes keeping abreast of issues currently affecting one’s community or cause, educating others about social inequality, volunteering time or money to a social cause, and meaningful individual involvement in activities, groups, and/or organizations to advocate for a social issue and/or improve one’s community (Flanagan & Levine, 2010; Kahne & Middaugh, 2008; Liss et al., 2004; Stake, 2007; Szymanski, 2003; Yoder et al., 2011).

Although little systemic research on African American activism exists, a parallel body of research on feminist activism has found that women reported being involved in 17 major categories of activist behaviors that meet the aforementioned definition of activism and that include both these informal as well as formal forms (Szymanski, 2004; Szymanski & Chung, 2003). These various forms of activist activities seem relevant to African Americans, particularly since African American activism may have changed in light of modern racism in which microaggressions may occur. Given the decrease in overt, hostile forms of racism and other forms of oppression over the past decade, African American activism today may be more likely to include informal/nonconfrontational forms of activism (e.g., mentoring and talking with others about African American issues) than formal/confrontational forms more prevalent in the past (e.g., rallies and boycotts). Because little is known about African American persons’ actual engagement in activism activities, research that examines their extent of participation is needed.

Racist Events and Individual Coping Styles as Predictors of Activism

Two potentially important predictors of involvement in African American activism are exposure to racist events and individual coping styles. Experiences of perceived racial discrimination are a relatively frequent occurrence for many African Americans that have been linked to poorer mental health outcomes (cf., Carter, 2007; Jackson et al., 1996: Klonoff, Landrine, & Ullman, 1999; Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). For example, Landrine and Klonoff (1996) found that 98% of African Americans reported experiencing some type of racial discrimination in the past year. They also found that more experiences of perceived racial discrimination were related to greater psychological distress and, interestingly, to cigarette smoking. Clark, Anderson, Clark, and Williams’s (1999) bio-psycho-social model of racism posits that increased experiences of racism demand that an individual implement coping strategies to deal with the environmental stressor(s).

Involvement in African American group-level activities may serve as a resource for coping with racism by providing African Americans with opportunities for (a) validation, empathy, and support for their experiences with racism; (b) counteracting the devaluation associated with racism; (c) contextualizing rather than internalizing oppression; (d) obtaining resources to help deal with the increased stress associated with oppression; and (e) achieving ethnic group survival (Mattis et al., 2004). In addition, individuals’ increased exposure to racist events may be a powerful reminder of social inequality and fuel more concern for the well-being of the African American community and commitment to work toward social justice. It may also be that African Americans who experience high levels of racism feel the need to actively do something to confront and challenge it. Thus, African Americans who experience more racist events might gravitate toward group efforts as a way to deal with these minority stressors.

Supporting the links between racist events and activism, Mattis et al. (2004) found that race-related stress and subjective religiosity were related to a greater likelihood of being a member of a political-social justice organization such as the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People among African American men but empathic concern, communalism, early religious involvement, and current church involvement were not. However, this study is limited by asking only about membership in a social justice organization and not their involvement in a variety of social justice activities. Paralleling these findings, research on women has found that more experiences of sexist events are positively correlated with more involvement in feminist activism (Duncan, 1999; Liss et al., 2004; Szymanski & Owens, 2009). Similarly, Friedman and Leaper (2010) found that experiences of gendered heterosexism predicted commitment to both feminist activism and lesbian, gay, and bisexual collective action among sexual minority women. Finally, Stake (2007) found that awareness of sexism predicted changes in feminist activism over semester-long women’s studies courses for both women and men, and these increases in feminist activism were similar for White and African American students.

In addition to personal experiences of perceived racial discrimination, an African American person’s individual coping styles are also likely to influence involvement in African American activism. Heppner, Cook, Wright, and Johnson (1995) identified three individual coping styles that people use to deal with life’s challenges: reflective, suppressive, and reactive coping styles. Individuals using reflective coping styles tend to approach life’s stressors and problems by examining causal relationships, being systematic, planning, and engaging in behaviors that are intended to produce changes in the external situation, affective states, or cognitive processes. They tend to use coping activities that promote progress in resolving stressful life events (Heppner et al., 1995; Wei, Heppner, Ku, & Liao, 2010). Individuals who use suppressive coping styles tend to approach problems with avoidance and denial, whereas individuals who use reactive coping styles tend to approaching life’s challenges with strong emotional responses, impulsivity, cognitive confusion, and distortion (Heppner et al., 1995). Individuals who use suppressive or reactive coping styles tend to use coping activities that prevent or hinder the resolution of stressful live events (Heppner et al., 1995; Wei et al., 2010). They tend to see themselves as ineffective problem solvers and are less trusting of others, less interpersonally assertive, and have lower levels of social support (Heppner & Lee, 2002).

It seems likely that individuals using reflective coping styles may be more likely to engage in African American group efforts because they actively and directly confront the source of environmental stress. Supporting this notion, proactive coping has been positively linked to primary appraisals of harm due to racial discrimination and to African American identification (Mallett & Swim, 2009). In addition, individuals using reflective coping styles often use a range of strategies that are aimed at bringing about lasting change (Heppner et al., 1995). Individuals who use suppressive and/or reactive coping styles may be less likely to engage in group efforts because they fail to address the cause of the stress. Their coping styles may also inhibit reaching out to others to engage in group efforts. In addition, individuals who use suppressive coping styles often disengage and do not maintain actions long enough to really solve their problems (Heppner et al., 1995). As such, they may be less likely to become involved in African American activist activities due to the level of engagement, commitment, and investment that these types of activities often require. Relatedly, African Americans using reactive coping styles may have strong emotional and cognitive responses that could exaggerate the sources of stress as uncontrollable and threatening (Heppner et al., 1995; Wei, Heppner, & Mallinckrodt, 2003). In addition, reactive coping styles are likely to deplete the individual, providing him or her with little energy to engage in sustained efforts that activism often demands.

These individual coping styles may also moderate the relationship between racist events and involvement in African American activism. That is, African American persons who use individual reflective coping may see the cause of the problem as racism and the cure as the eradication of it. In addition, they may be more likely to think about a systematic plan in the face of racial discrimination that includes both the short-term and long term benefits of possible solutions (Wei, Ku, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Liao, 2008). Furthermore, African American persons with high reflective coping may have a stronger sense that they can do something about oppression, as well as transform it into an opportunity for personal and community growth (Tobin, Holroyd, Reynolds, & Wigal, 1989). This may serve to intensify or support the relationship between racist events and involvement in African American group-level responses to oppression. Thus, the theorized relations between racist events and activism may be stronger for those who have high racist events and high reflective coping styles than those who have high racist events and low reflective coping styles.

Supporting this notion, reflective coping styles have been linked with an internal locus of control (Heppner et al., 1995). In addition, Scott and House (2005) found that perceived control over racist discrimination (i.e., the extent to which an individual feels that he or she can do something or change the situation when confronted with racism) was related to more use of problem-solving coping strategies for coping with experiences of perceived racial discrimination among African American adolescents. Relatedly, research has linked individual’s participation in feminist activism and/or anti–nuclear war activism to feelings of empowerment (Stake, 2007) and to personal political efficacy or a strong belief or that one can effect meaningful social change (Edwards & Oskamp,1992; Fiske, 1987; Kelly & Breinlinger, 1995). Finally, problem-solving coping has been found to moderate the racism-distress links among African American women, with higher levels of problem-focused coping buffering the effects of racism on depressive symptoms (West, Donovan, & Roemer, 2010).

African American persons who frequently use suppressive and/or reactive coping strategies fail to address the causes of stress and may believe that they cannot do anything about oppression. Greater use of suppressive coping necessitates cognitive attempts to minimize the meaning or impact of a racist event and behavioral efforts to withdraw from it (Heppner et al., 1995). Thus, suppressive coping might increase passivity in response to racial discrimination (Wei et al., 2008). Greater use of reactive coping might increase dwelling on how one is negatively affected by racial discrimination, which may impede taking active steps to do something about it. Both reactive and suppressive/avoidant coping styles have been linked to psychological distress (Heppner et al., 1995; Scott & House, 2005). In addition, avoidant coping styles have been linked to an external locus of control (Amirkhan, 1990) and less self-esteem and satisfaction with life among African Americans (Utsey et al., 2000). Furthermore, avoidant coping styles have been found to moderate the racism-distress links among African American women, with higher levels of avoidant coping exacerbating the effects of racism on depressive symptoms (West et al., 2010). Thus, the theorized relations between racist events and activism may be weaker for those who have high racist events and high suppressive and/or reactive coping styles than those who have high racist events and low suppressive and/or reactive coping styles.

In sum, the purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of participation in a variety of African American activism activities. In addition to this general research question, it also examined racist events and three individual coping styles (reflective, suppressive, and reactive) as predictors of engagement in African American activism. Finally, it examined the moderating roles of individual coping styles in the racist events-African American activism link. More specifically, the following were examined:

Hypothesis 1: Racist events and reflective coping will be positively correlated with African American activism. Suppressive coping and reactive coping will be negatively related to African American activism.

Hypothesis 2: Individual coping styles (reflective, suppressive, and reactive) will moderate the relationship between racist events and African American activism. That is, reflective coping may strengthen the association between racist events and activism, whereas suppressive and reactive coping may weaken the association between racist events and activism.

Method

Participants and Procedure

Data for the current study were part of a larger study that examined the potential moderating and mediating roles of positive and negative religious coping styles in the relationship between external and internalized racism and African American persons’ psychological distress (Szymanski & Obiri, 2011). As reported earlier, the national sample consisted of 269 African American women (72%) and men (28%). Age of participants range from 18 to 79 years, with a mean age of 31.16 years (SD = 15.91). The majority of participants identified as heterosexual (93%). Sixty-four percent (n = 173) of participants were currently enrolled in a college or university, with 45% being first-year undergraduates, 14% sophomores, 13% juniors, 15% seniors, 12% graduates students, and 1% other. Of the 36% who were not currently students (n = 96), 7% attained a high school diploma, 10% attained a 2-year college degree, 20% attained a 4-year college degree, and 63% attained a graduate/professional degree. In terms of geographical location, 20% resided in the Northeast, 42% in the South, 23% in the Midwest, and 15% in the West.

A web-based Internet survey was used to collect the data, and Riggle, Rostosky, and Reedy’s (2005) procedures for collecting data online were followed. More specifically, an e-mail announcement of the study was sent to the list owner/contact person of a variety of African American related listserves (found primarily through searches of Yahoo Groups and Facebook), African American community groups and organizations, university/college multicultural centers, Black student/faculty/staff groups, and African American studies programs. The e-mail announcement was sent to individuals on the website listed as either “contact person” or “listserv owner.” Using the snowball method, the list owner/contact person was asked to distribute the research announcement to their listserve and to their African American friends, students, and colleagues. Participants were also recruited largely via undergraduate psychology courses at a large southern university. Potential participants used a hypertext link to access the survey website, where they read an informed consent before completing the online survey. The measures used in the present study were embedded among other instruments in the survey and randomly ordered. Participants recruited via the undergraduate psychology pool received course credit points for their participation. In addition, all participants were eligible to enter into a raffle drawing of $100.00 awarded to one randomly selected participant.

Measures

Racist events

Racist events were assessed using Landrine and Klonoff’s (1996) Schedule of Racist Events–Recent (SRE-R), which consists of 18 items assessing racial discrimination in the lives of African Americans. Participants were asked to indicate how often during the past year they experienced a variety of racist events. Example items include “How many times have you been accused or suspected of doing something wrong (such as stealing, cheating, not doing your share of the work, or breaking the law) because you are Black?” and “How many times have you been treated unfairly by your employer, boss, or supervisors because you are Black?” Each item is rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale from 1 =The event has never happened to you to 6 = The event happened almost all the time (more than 70% of the time). Mean scores were used, with higher scores indicating the experience of more racist events. Reported internal consistency for scores on the SRE-R full scale was .95 (Klonoff & Landrine, 1999; Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). Structural validity was supported by exploratory (Klonoff & Landrine, 1996) and confirmatory factor analyses (DeBlaere & Moradi, 2008). Construct validity was supported by significant positive correlations with cigarette smoking (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996); global psychological distress scores and psychological distress subscale scores of anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, somatization, and obsessions/compulsions (Klonoff & Landrine, 1999; Landrine & Klonoff, 1996); and by demonstrating that traditional African Americans (those immersed in African American culture) reported experiencing more racist events than acculturated African Americans (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). Cronbach’s alpha for the current sample was .95.

Individual coping styles were assessed using the Problem Focused Style of Coping Scale (PF-SOC; Heppner et al., 1995), which consists of 18 items reflecting three individual coping style factors: reflective, suppressive, and reactive. Example items for each factor respectively include “I think my problems through in a systematic way,” “I avoid even thinking about my problems,” and “I act too quickly, which makes my problems worse.” Each item is rated using a 5-point Likert-type scale—from 1 = Almost never to 5 = Almost all the time. Higher mean scores indicate more frequent endorsement of respective coping styles. Heppner et al. (1995) reported alphas for scores on the reflective style ranged from .77 to .80; for the suppressive style .76 to .77, and reactive style .67 to .73. Estimated 3-week test-retest reliability for the factors were .67 (reflective style), .65 (suppressive style), and .71 (reactive style). Validity of the PF-SOC was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, by correlating the PF-SOC with other measures of coping and measures assessing amount of personal problems, depression, anxiety, global psychological distress, and locus of control and by demonstrating that it was conceptually distinct from neuroticism and social desirability (Heppner et al., 1995). Alphas for the current sample were .85 (reflective style), .79 (suppressive style), and .81 (reactive style).

African American activism

Due to a lack of published scales assessing African American activism, involvement in African American activism activities was assessed using a modified version of the Involvement in Feminist Activism Scale (IFAS; Szymanski, 2004). Each item was modified by replacing the word “feminist” with “African American” (e.g., “I actively participate in feminist organizational, political, social, community, and/or academic activities and events” was changed to “I actively participate in African American organizational, political, social, community, and/or academic activities and events.” This modified scale, called the Involvement in African American Activism Scale, consisted of 17 items assessing involvement in a variety of African American activism activities, including being a member of an African American organization and/or group; participating in African American demonstrations, boycotts, marches, and/or rallies; donating money to African American groups or causes; and being involved in antiracism activities (see Table 1 for items). Participants are instructed to indicate to what degree each item describes their involvement in the stated activity. Each statement is rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale from 1 (Very untrue of me) to 7 (Very true of me). Mean scores are used, with higher scores indicating more involvement in African American activism. Reported alpha for scores on the IFAS full scale was .94. Validity was supported by exploratory factor analysis, by significant positive correlations between the IFAS and self-reported involvement in feminist activities, self-identification as feminist, favorable attitudes toward feminism, feminist identity development dimensions, various feminist ideologies, and by demonstrating that the IFAS was conceptually distinct from social desirability (Szymanski, 2004). Alpha for the current sample was .95.

Table 1.

Items, Factor Loadings, Corrected Item-Total Correlations, Descriptives for the Involvement in African American Activism Scale

Item No.	Item	Factor Loading	Corrected Item-Total r	1. Very Untrue of Me	2. Moderately True of Me	3. A Little Untrue of Me	4. Not Sure	5. A Little True Of Me	6. Moderately True of Me	7. Very True of Me	Mean (SD)
10	I am involved in planning/organizing African American events and activities.	.81	.79	35%	10%	9%	4%	12%	11%	21%	3.62 (2.42)
7	I am active in African American political activities.	.81	.79	41%	11%	8%	6%	15%	9%	10%	3.10 (2.21)
4	I attend conferences/lectures/classes/training on African American issues.	.80	.78	27%	5%	9%	6%	22%	12%	19%	4.05 (2.27)
17	I actively participate in African American organizational,	.80	.77	20%	7%	7%	7%	18%	12%	30%	4.52 (2.93)
	political, social, community, and/or academic activities and events.
8	I am involved in research, writing, and/or speaking about African American issues.	.78	.75	38%	10%	8%	3%	13%	9%	19%	3.49 (2.42)
6	I am involved in antiracism work.	.77	.75	38%	11%	9%	9%	10%	10%	13%	3.23 (2.26)
5	I attend African American organizational, political, social, community, and/or academic activities and events.	.77	.75	20%	7%	6%	4%	19%	19%	25%	4.54 (2.52)
13	I am involved in African American related teaching and/or mentoring activities.	.74	.72	23%	7%	7%	5%	15%	12%	31%	4.40 (2.38)
14	I am a member of one or more African American organizations and/or groups.	.74	.72	22%	6%	6%	6%	12%	12%	35%	4.56 (2.41)
3	I participate in African American demonstrations, boycotts, marches, and/or rallies.	.74	.72	39%	11%	8%	7%	17%	9%	8%	3.12 (2.14)
9	I am involved in organizations that address the needs of other minority groups (e.g., women, people with disabilities, lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons).	.70	.68	35%	9%	3%	6%	16%	9%	22%	3.75 (2.44)
2	I educate others about African American issues.	.70	.68	16%	10%	7%	5%	22%	16%	25%	4.55 (2.16)
12	I donate money to African American groups or causes.	.67	.66	28%	10%	7%	7%	18%	10%	21%	3.90 (2.33)
16	I am a member of one or more African American listserves.	.67	.65	32%	8%	7%	10%	5%	7%	31%	3.95 (2.53)
15	I read African American literature.	.60	.59	6%	7%	5%	4%	19%	17%	42%	5.41 (1.88)
1	I write to politicians and elected officials concerning African American issues.	.52	.50	63%	10%	6%	1%	10%	6%	5%	2.21 (1.92)
11	I vote for political candidates that support African American issues.	.50	.49	8%	4%	5%	6%	14%	18%	47%	5.56 (1.88)

Note: Total percentages across rows may not equal 100 because of rounding. The Involvement in African American Activism Scale should be administered with these instructions: “For each of the following statements, indicate to what degree it describes your involvement in the stated activity, using the scale below.” Each statement is rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale from 1 (Very untrue of me) to 7 (Very true of me). The full scale mean score is used with higher scores indicating more involvement in African American activism.

Results

Involvement in African American Activism Scale Psychometrics and Descriptives

To establish structural validity for the Involvement in African American Activism Scale, an exploratory factor analyses using principal axis factoring (PAF) was conducted. The chi-square test of sphericity was significant (p < .001), which indicates that the data were appropriate for factor analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy yielded a value of .94, which indicates that the sample size was large enough to evaluate the factor structure. Parallel analysis and Velicer’s minimum average partial (MAP) test conducted using O’Connor’s (2000) programs for SPSS both indicated a one-factor solution (eigenvalue = 9.25) that accounted for 54% of the variance. Table 1 shows factor loadings, corrected item-total correlations, frequencies, means, and standard deviations for Involvement in African American Activities Scale items. Factor loadings ranged from .50 to .81. Corrected item-total correlations ranged from .49 to .79. Internal consistency (alpha) for scores on the Involvement in African American Activism Scale was .95.

Descriptive statistics for each item assessing African American Activism (see Table 1) revealed that the top four activities most frequently endorsed included Items 11 (voting for political candidates that support African American issues), 15 (reading African American literature), 14 (being a member of an African American organization and/or group), and 2 (educating others about African American issues). The three least endorsed activities included Items 1 (writing politicians and elected officials about African American issues), 7 (being active in African American political activities), and 3 (participating in demonstrations, boycotts, marches, and/or rallies).

Racist Events, Individual Coping Styles, and Involvement in African American Activism

Means, standard deviations, skewness, kurtosis, and correlations among the variables are presented in Table 2. Examination of the distributions revealed that several of the main variables (racist events, suppressive coping, and African American activism) had significant positive skew at the p <.05 level; however, these are unlikely to make a substantive difference in the analyses given this study’s large sample size (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). Subsequently, transformations of these variables resulted in measures that were still positively skewed but much improved by the square root transformation. Next, all the regression analyses were conducted first with nontransformed data and then again with the transformed values. Significance levels and the directions of the relationships (i.e., signs on the beta weights) did not change meaningfully from those obtained with the nontransformed data. Thus, for clarity in presentation of the data and because the transformation process did not alter the results, the statistical results that were obtained using the nontransformed data are presented. Absolute values of correlations between predictor variables (range = 0.02-0.63), variance inflation factors (range = 1.045-1.705), and condition index values (range = 1.00-2.427) were examined and multicollinearity was deemed not problematic (Myers, 1990; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001).

Table 2.

Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations Among All Study Variables

Variable	Possible Range	Mean	SD	Skew Statistic/SE	Kurtosis Statistic/SE	1	2	3	4
1. Racist Events	1-6	2.37	.90	.783/.149	.032/.296	—
2. Individual Coping—Reflective Style	1-5	3.56	.82	−.269/.149	−.136/.296	.133*	—
3. Individual Coping—Suppressive Style	1-5	2.00	.71	.833/.149	.351/.296	.019	−.323*	—
4. Individual Coping—Reactive Style	1-5	2.44	.87	.541/.149	−.233/.296	.137*	−.119	.627*	—
5. African American Activism	1-7	4.00	1.64	.042/.149	−1.147/.296	.432*	.373*	−.208*	−.080

p < .05.

As hypothesized, at the bivariate level, racist events (r = .43, p < .05) and reflective coping (r = .37, p < .05) were positively correlated with African American activism. In addition, suppressive coping (r = −.21, p < .05) was negatively correlated with African American activism. Contrary to the hypothesis, reactive coping was not related to African American activism (see Table 2).

To test Hypothesis 2, a hierarchical multiple regression analyses was conducted. Reported sample power analyses based on Aiken and West (1991) suggested that the sample size of 269 was large enough to detect an interaction of large and moderate effect size. Prior to this analysis, scores for measures of racist events and the three individual coping styles were centered (i.e., put into deviation units by subtracting their sample means to produce revised sample means of zero) to reduce multicollinearity between the interaction terms and other predictor variables (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). The centered scores were used to create the interaction terms (Frazier, Tix, & Barron, 2004). Main effects were entered at Step 1 and interaction effects at Step 2. Evidence for a moderator effect is noted at Step 2 by a statistically significant increment in R² and beta weight. The results of this analysis were significant, R² = .33, F(7, 268) = 18.01, p < .001. Racist events (β = .42), reflective coping (β = .28), and the interaction of racist events and reflective coping (β = −.17) were the only significant predictors of African American activism (see Table 3). The interaction of racist events and reflective coping accounted for 2% of the variance above and beyond that accounted for by the variables entered at Step 1. Suppressive coping, reactive coping, and the interactions between the racist events and both suppressive and reactive coping were not significant predictors of African American activism.

Table 3.

Summary of Hierarchical Regression Predicting African American Activism

Step	Variables	β	t	R ²	R² Change	Sig. F Change	df
1	Racist Events	.423*	8.038	.303	.303	.000	4, 264
	Reflective Coping	.284*	5.176
	Suppressive Coping	−.119	−1.702
	Reactive Coping	−.010	−.143
2	Racist Events × Reflective Coping	−.165*	−2.907	.326	.023	.032	3, 261
	Racist Events × Suppressive Coping	−.054	−.814
	Racist Events × Reactive Coping	−.003	−.050

Note: β and t reflect values from the final regression equation.

p < .05.

To interpret the statistically significant interaction, regression lines for the full sample were plotted using Aiken and West’s (1991) procedure. African American activism scores for racist events of one standard deviation below and above the mean and low reflective coping (one standard deviation below the mean) versus high reflective coping (one standard deviation above the mean) were plotted on a graph (see Figure 1). Aiken and West’s (1991) simple slope analysis showed that racist events predicted activism for African American persons with low reflective individual coping styles, β = .582, t = 7.260, p < .001, and for African Americans with high reflective individual coping styles, β = .265, t = 3.724, p < .001. This indicates that racist events predict activism for African American persons with both low and high levels of reflective individual coping styles but this relationship is stronger for those with low reflective coping styles. As shown in Figure 1, the difference between the two reflective coping styles groups occurs at the lower levels of racism when African American persons who have more reflective coping styles have greater involvement in African American activism.

Figure 1.

Interaction of recent racist events and reflective coping on involvement in African American activism

Discussion

The findings of the present study suggest that African American persons may engage in different types of activist activities aimed at improving the well-being of the African American community and working toward social justice. In addition, the findings suggest that African American persons who have experienced more perceived racial discrimination within the past year and who engage in reflective or active styles of coping were more likely to be involved in such activities. This is consistent with Mattis et al.’s (2004) finding that race-related stress was positively related to being a member of a political-social justice organization among African American men and with findings demonstrating that more experiences of sexist events are positively correlated with more involvement in feminist activism among women (cf., Liss et al., 2004; Szymanski & Owens, 2009).

The present study also found support for a moderating role of reflective coping in the link between racist events and involvement in African American activism, with the difference between the high and low reflective coping groups occurring at the lower levels of racism. More specifically, participants with high reflective coping engaged in more African American activism than participants with low reflective coping when experiences of racist events were low, but a larger number of racist events mitigated this effect. That is, all African American persons engaged in activism when levels of racist events were high, suggesting that involvement in activism may be one way that African Americans cope with racism.

While those with high reflective coping did, indeed, report the highest activism scores, contrary to the hypothesis, the relationship was actually stronger for those with low reflective coping. More specifically, as illustrated in Figure 1, the slope for the low reflective coping group was steeper (β = .58) than the slope for the high reflective coping (β = .27). Thus, the relationship was weaker for the high reflective coping group. Because African Americans with high reflective coping are already engaged in a large number of activism activities, they may diversify and use other coping strategies when confronted with racial discrimination, which may explain the weaker relationship between racist events and activism for this group when compared with the low reflective coping group. Alternatively, it may be the result of the greater cognitive complexity inherent in the reflective coping style or a ceiling effect among those with higher reflective coping styles. Contrary to the hypotheses, suppressive and reactive coping did not moderate the racist events-activism link. These results suggest that racist events are positively related to involvement in activism regardless of whether an African American person’s tendency is to approach life’s challenges with avoidance and denial or strong emotional responses and cognitive confusion.

The current study is limited by a highly educated convenience sample, the use of self-report measures, and a correlational design. Respondents recruited through connection to African American groups and organizations and from enrollment in undergraduate psychology courses may be biased in some way (e.g., experiencing lower levels of racist events, having better coping strategies, being more homogeneous, and having more cultural resources and support than the larger target population). As is true with all self-report data, participants may not have responded honestly to survey items and there may be measurement error due to retrospective recall bias. In addition, individual differences are likely to exist in judgments about what constitutes a racist event. Inferences about causality cannot be made due to the correlational and cross-sectional nature of this study. For example, racist events might result in more involvement in African American activism, involvement in African American activism might result in more frequent perceptions of or exposure to racist events, or a circular relationship might exist between the two. Finally, this study is limited by the use of an activism scale that was originally developed to assess feminist activism, which may not fully access the range of activism activities that African American men and women engage in.

Beyond racist events and individual coping styles, activism today for African Americans may be prompted by factors such as education, social class, the importance of race to the self, and racial identity. For example, education and social class have been found to be strong positive predictors of political participation and other forms of civic engagement (Flanagan & Levine, 2010). Chavous (2000) found that race centrality was positively related to involvement in African American campus organizations among African American students at predominately White universities. Relatedly, Lott (2007) found that Black racial identity pre-encounter status negatively predicted African American university students’ favorable perceptions of community outreach, whereas Black racial identity statuses of immersion-emersion and internalization positively predicted African American university students’ favorable perceptions of community outreach. Thus, future research is needed to examine race-related constructs, such as salience, centrality, and identity, as they relate to activism among diverse groups African American persons. Given theoretical links between African American racial identity models and activism (Cross, 1971, 1991) and empirical research linking racial minority group identity and proactive coping options among African Americans (Outten, Schmitt, Garcia, & Branscome, 2009), future research might also examine if individuals at the Internalization/Commitment status of racial identity are more likely to use reflective coping and to engage in African American activism and to determine if reflective coping mediates the relationship between the two constructs.

Future research is also needed on other important variables that might improve the prediction of involvement in African American activism such as self-efficacy, locus of control, perceived social rewards, religiosity, institutional religious involvement, racial socialization experiences, and cultural norms (e.g., collectivism, brother/sisterhood) that may support involvement in activism. Furthermore, the current study used a racist events measure that lumps individual, institutional, and collective forms of racism together and that does not distinguish between macro- and microaggressions. Future research might tease out the various forms of racism and their relation to engagement in activism to determine if some forms of racism are better predictors of activism than others. Longitudinal research is also necessary to establish that racist events and reflective coping leads to more involvement in African American activism. Finally, given evidence for the buffering effect of involvement in feminist activism in the sexism-distress link among women (Szymanski & Owens, 2009), future research might examine if involvement of African American activism serves as a protective factor in the link between racism and psychosocial distress.

In conclusion, the current study adds to the literature on coping with racism by demonstrating that involvement in activism is an important method of dealing with racial discrimination for many African American persons. The findings also underscore the importance of problem-solving coping styles and their interaction with racist events in explaining African American persons’ involvement in social justice efforts. Finally, the results of this study provide initial support for the use of the African American Activism Scale as a research tool to further our understanding of African American persons’ engagement in collective responses to oppression.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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