2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Basma Adel (psychology)

Graduate co-author: Jacqueline Rodriguez-Stanley

Faculty mentor: Samuele Zilioli

Abstract

An individual's perception of their discriminatory experiences has an important impact on their depressive symptoms. Some studies have shown that higher levels of perceived discrimination led to worse mental health conditions, including depressive symptoms and anxiety. Discrimination is the unfair treatment of an individual by others based on their gender, race, sexual orientation, age, and other factors. Our empirical study investigated the relationship between everyday discrimination, major lifetime discrimination, and depressive symptoms using data from 211 older African American adults in the Health among Older adults Living in Detroit (HOLD) study.

The double disadvantage hypothesis explains that individuals who are disadvantaged in one stratification are disadvantaged in other stratifications including race, gender, and other factors. We implemented this hypothesis in our investigation and found that men reported experiencing more major lifetime discriminatory experiences than women. Study results also revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between everyday discrimination and major discrimination experiences and depressive symptoms. However, gender did not moderate this relationship.

Our findings add to the existing literature by having investigated this relationship in older African American adults. Future studies should explore how various coping styles in men affect how they handle stressors, including discriminatory events. Studies should also investigate sex differences regarding how men and women process their thoughts and emotions through coping methods and seeking out social support.

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