Race-related stressors, racial identity, and activism

Black American individuals experience race-related stressors that are not always direct, including witnessing racial discrimination (i.e., vicarious racial discrimination) and anticipating future racial discrimination. Participating in or orienting towards activism may be a response to combat these race-related stressors (Hope & Jagers, 2014; Hope et al., 2019). In addition, researchers have argued that racial identity (i.e., racial centrality, private regard, and public regard) has been distinctly connected to ways that Black individuals react and respond to race-related stress. These responses have historically included activism (Szymanski & Lewis, 2015). The Sociopolitical Development Theory (Anyiwo et al., 2018; Lozada et al., 2017; Watts et al., 1999) was used as a guiding framework to understand relations between race-related stressors, activism behaviors (i.e., past participation in activism) activism orientation (i.e., likelihood of participating in future activism), and racial identity of Black American parents. Overall, the findings from the current study indicated that Black American parents’ demographic and family characteristics, as well as their race-related stressor experiences, are related to their past activism behaviors, as well as their orientation towards future forms of activism. There were different patterns of associations based on the type of race-related stressor. Black American parents’ anticipation of racial discrimination was indirectly related to their activism behavior, as well as high-risk and formal activism orientation through their beliefs about how others view their racial group. Parents’ private regard and racial centrality did not modify the associations between public regard and activism behavior or orientation.Human Development and Family Science