The moderating role of racial identity In Black college student experiences of institutional race-related stress and anxious arousal

The experience of race-related stress due to institutional racism is a pervasive reality for Black college students which contributes to poor mental health outcomes such as anxious arousal symptomology. One framework which may account for this association between this chronic stress and mental health decline is the Reserve Capacity Model. In line with this framework, this study investigated whether racial identity dimensions (racial centrality, public racial regard, private racial regard, and sense of belonging to the racial group) contribute to this population’s reserve capacity and buffer the association between institutional race-related stress and anxious arousal symptoms. To this end, a sample of 134 Black college students completed racial identity and mental health questionnaires. The results of the regression analysis demonstrated that higher levels of institutional race-related stress, racial centrality, and public regard respectively were associated with higher levels of anxious arousal while higher levels of private regard and sense of belonging were associated with lower levels of anxious arousal. Two main effects were qualified by significant interactions. Investigation of the interaction effects revealed that high levels of sense of belonging and low levels of public regard, respectively, buffered the association between institutional race-related stress and anxious arousal symptoms while low levels of sense of belonging and high levels of public regard were risk factors that amplified the association. These findings support the hypothesis that certain racial identity dimensions contribute to the reserve capacity of Black students experiencing institutional race-related stress. These results are discussed in the context of extant literature on Black racial identity and the university context.LimitedAuthor requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD syste