An Investigation of the Influence of Hope on the Relationship between Racial Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among African American College Students

The relationship between perceived racial discrimination, hope, and depressive symptoms among African American college students was investigated. The first supported hypotheses were that racial discrimination, hope, and hope\u27s two components, agency and pathways, would each significantly affect depressive symptoms. Hope and pathways, but not agency, were each found to moderate the relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms and the moderation models were found to explain as much or more variance the models examining direct effects. Also, the interaction of pathways and racial discrimination explained more variance than any of the other models. These results suggest that hope and pathways influence the relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. Implications for understanding how hope can influence the experience of discrimination for African American college students are discussed