Online discrimination and mental health outcomes: The moderating roles of ethnic identity and immigrant generation among Latinx young adults.

Abstract

In-person discrimination is robustly associated with negative psychological outcomes among Latinx young adults. However, less is known about the relations between online racial and ethnic discrimination (OR/ED) and mental health as well as potential protective factors (e.g., ethnic identity [EI]) that may mitigate these associations. Moreover, given that offline discrimination may be less strongly associated with mental health for 1stgeneration individuals, further research is needed to understand how relations between OR/ED and mental health may vary by immigrant generation. This study examined (a) the relations between OR/ED and mental health among Latinx undergraduates; and (b) the moderating effects of EI and immigrant generation on these relations. Participants were 522 Latinx undergraduates enrolled in a public university in the Northeast U.S. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that individual OR/ED (i.e., discrimination directed at the viewer) and vicarious OR/ED (i.e., discrimination directed at others) were significant predictors of mental health. Moreover, EI moderated the relationship between individual OR/ED and depressive symptoms as well as between vicarious OR/ED and social anxiety (SA). Additionally, both individual and vicarious OR/ED were more strongly related to SA for 1st generation students compared to students with two parents born in the U.S. Implications for supporting Latinx college students are discussed. Public Significance StatementImmigrant generation and feelings of belonging to one's ethnic group may play a critical role in how exposure to online racial and ethnic discrimination (OR/ED) relates to Latinx college student's mental health. Ensuring that Latinx college students are appropriately supported may be helpful in reducing the negative associations between OR/ED and psychology well-being.

Development and Validation of the Ethnic-Racial Discrimination Stress Inventory (ERDSI) for Mexican-Origin U.S. Adults and Turkish-Origin German Adults

“…However, vicarious experiences, which involve witnessing or hearing about acts of discrimination, occur across different settings (work, schools, etc.) and reflect the extensiveness of discrimination against Latinxs and other people of color (Herda & McCarthy, 2018;Portillo et al, 2022;Quinn et al, 2023;Volpert-Esmond & Aboargob, 2023). Therefore, we would expect that participants would report experiencing them more often than firsthand accounts of discrimination.…”

Development and validation of the Ethnic–Racial Discrimination Stress Inventory (ERDSI) for Mexican-origin U.S. adults and Turkish-origin German adults.

“…It was initially surprising that these factors explained a larger percentage of variance than did Firsthand Discrimination Stress , as most measures assess firsthand experiences of discrimination (e.g., Williams et al, 1997, 2008). However, vicarious experiences of discrimination, which occur indirectly through witnessing or hearing about discrimination incidents, are increasingly amplified by media coverage, social networks, and social media platforms, making the discrimination against Latina/os and other people of color more visible (Portillo et al, 2022; Quinn et al, 2023; Volpert-Esmond & Aboargob, 2023), and contributing to stress in this domain. With repeated exposure to indirect discrimination experiences and negative media representations of one’s ethnic–racial group, individuals may begin to internalize some of these negative stereotypes, resulting in increased internalization of discrimination stress.…”

Online xenophobia and mental health among Venezuelan migrant youth in Colombia: The interplay with “in-person” discrimination.

“…Indeed, a recent analysis of comments in Spanish-language YouTube videos focused on Venezuelan migrants and refugees found that close to 20% of comments contained offenses and/or derogatory terms (Aguirre & Domahidi, 2021). Second, the broader body of research among migrant populations, in general, indicates that many immigrants are exposed to racist or xenophobic content in online videos, via social media posts, or on websites (Castaño-Pulgarín et al, 2021;Portillo et al, 2022). Third, online engagement is relatively new, particularly in lower resource contexts where broadband remains limited (Poushter et al, 2018;Ritchie et al, 2023).…”