Perceived racism as a predictor of depression and cultural mistrust

We examined the role of perceived racism as a predictor of depression and cultural mistrust in African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Caucasian students. Design: 65 university students of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds completed the Perceived Racism Scale, Beck Depression Inventory second edition, and Cultural Mistrust Inventory-Revised. Results: African Americans experienced the highest levels of perceived racism, followed by Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Caucasians. Higher levels of perceived racism were associated with increased cultural mistrust, while depression and mistrust varied with ethnic background. Further, high perceived racism was associated with increased cultural mistrust for African American and Caucasian participants, and decreased mistrust for Hispanic American and Asian American participants. Finally, minority males reported higher depression and mistrust than minority females, while Caucasian females reported higher depression and mistrust than Caucasian mules. Conclusion: Perceptions of racism differed by ethnic group, and interacted with ethnicity and gender to predict reported depression and cultural mistrust