Term of Award

Summer 2021

Degree Name

Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Jessica Brooks

Committee Member 1

Amy Hackney

Committee Member 2

Jeff Klibert

Abstract

Sixty-five percent of undergraduates reported family as their most important in-group and 79% reported family as being in their top three in-groups (McConnell, 2019). Familial bonds are vital for racial ethnic minorities because of their unique experiences as minorities such as experienced racism, acculturative stress, and other forms of adversity. The current study examined the effects of a racially-based stress induction and imaginal exercise on state stress levels and familial attitudes, and the relationship between racial-ethnic socialization and racial battle fatigue including kinship social support as a moderator. The study used an experimental design, manipulating stress induction through a script construction and stress reduction through an imaginal exercise to examine changes in state stress levels and familial attitudes. Additionally, a series of questionnaires was administered to participants to examine associations between racial-ethnic socialization, kinship support, and racial battle fatigue. A 2 (Stress induction) x 2 (Imaginal Exercise) x 3 (Time) mixed methods ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor examined the effect of these tasks on state stress levels and found no changes in state stress levels indicating both tasks were not effective in the current study. A second 2 (Stress induction) x 2 (Imaginal Exercise) x 2 (Time) mixed methods ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor was used to examine changes in familial attitudes, yet the results also failed to demonstrate significant changes based on assigned condition. Last, the PROCESS macro moderation analysis for kinship support was found to be insignificant such that kinship support did not moderate the relationship between racial-ethnic socialization and racial battle fatigue. Based on the results of the present study, manipulation of the stress induction and familism failed to alter stress and familism attitudes. Although the current study's findings were non-significant, examining the causal relationship between racial microaggressions and protective cultural mechanisms seen in racial-ethnic minorities on well-being is warranted further to inform interventions on the well-being of racial-ethnic minorities.

OCLC Number

1422812311

Research Data and Supplementary Material

Yes

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