Research demonstrates that the mental health of African Americans is
negatively affected by discrimination, but few studies have investigated the
effects of racial discrimination specifically and whether these effects vary by
poverty and education levels. Using a sample of 3,372 African Americans from the
National Survey of American Life (NSAL), we find a positive relationship between
racial discrimination and depressive symptoms, with both lifetime and daily
racial discrimination being more salient for depressive symptoms among
impoverished African Americans than those living above 200% of the
poverty line. Evaluating mediated moderation models, we also find that the
conditional effects of socioeconomic status are mediated by poor African
Americans’ having fewer psychosocial resources. Namely, lower levels of
mastery are influential in accounting for poor African Americans’
greater vulnerability to both daily and lifetime discrimination. The findings
highlight the importance of examining specific reasons for discrimination as
well as mediated moderation in future research.