APA writing assignment

Received 06/19/12 Revised 12/18/12

Accepted 01/09/13 DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00154.x

Research

Perceived Racism as Moderator Between Self-Esteem/Shyness and Psychological Distress Among African Americans Ruth Chu-Lien Chao, Joseph Longo, Canzi Wang, Deepta Dasgupta, and Jessica Fear

In the spirit of the mission of social justice in counseling, this study examined perceived racism as a moderator on the association between self-concept (i.e., self-esteem, shyness) and distress among African Americans. The authors examined whether perceived racism changed the relationship between self-esteem/shyness and psychological dis- tress by investigating a sample of 394 African Americans. With a moderation analysis, the authors found signifcant interaction effects of Self-Esteem × Perceived Racism and Shyness × Perceived Racism on distress.

Keywords: self-esteem, shyness, perceived racism, psychological distress, African Americans

Given the importance placed on individualism in Western culture, self-concept has been critical in understanding people’s psychological issues from the Western perspective. Moreover, it is hardly surprising that self-concept has been described as one of the most pivotal personality attributes related to psychological distress (Marsh, Trautwein, Lüdtke, Köller, & Baumert, 2006). Self-concept has two indexes, self- esteem and shyness, which indicate how much people believe in themselves in terms of their sense of personal value and comfortableness with others (Cheek & Buss, 1981). Specif- cally, individuals with higher self-esteem tend to have better mental health and are more resilient in the face of adversity compared with those with low self-esteem (Marcussen, 2006). Shyness, the other component of self-concept, is defned as “one’s reaction to being with strangers or casual acquain- tances: tension . . . feelings of awkwardness and discomfort” (Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 330). Shyness is associated with high negative emotionality, negative affectivity, personal distress, low positive affect, and low constructive coping (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Murphy, 1995).

Many scholars (e.g., Cowden, 2005; Harris, 2010; Mar- cussen, 2006) have found that self-concept can positively or negatively relate to psychological distress, which refers to the current or past level of overall experiences of symptoms, intensity of symptoms, and number of reported symptoms (Derogatis, 1993). With regard to the association between

self-concept and psychological distress, there are two types of studies: one investigates the relationship between self- esteem and psychological distress (e.g., Abe, 2004; Cassidy, O’Connor, Howe, & Warden, 2004), and the other explores the relationship between shyness and mental health (e.g., Cowden, 2005).

According to Ratts (2011), one important component in the social justice mission in counseling is to alter or recognize oppressive environmental conditions such as racism. Unfor- tunately, the context of the prior studies shows that a gap still exists between the prior studies and the call from the social justice mission. The prior research used a univariate perspec- tive, which could only answer the direct association between self-concept (e.g., self-esteem, shyness) and psychological distress, but may not ft with the emerging commitment of the social justice mission in counseling-related professions (e.g., Goodman et al., 2004; Lum, 2003; Ratts, 2011; Ratts, Toporek, & Lewis, 2010). Among the burgeoning topics most directly relevant to social justice are correlates and consequences of injustices, including racism and prejudice. The harmful nature of racism has been a crucial experience for African Americans. Perceived racism could be a proxy for actual experiences of racism, and it refers to one’s ap- praisals of the stressfulness of the racist events (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). Indeed, evidence has accumulated during the past decade to suggest that reports of perceived racism

Ruth Chu-Lien Chao, Joseph Longo, Canzi Wang, Deepta Dasgupta, and Jessica Fear, Department of Counseling Psychol- ogy, University of Denver. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ruth Chu-Lien Chao, Department of Counseling Psychology, Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver, 1999 East Evans Avenue, #260, Denver, CO 80208 (e-mail: [email protected]).

© 2014 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.

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Chao, Longo, Wang, Dasgupta, & Fear

are related to mental health and symptoms of psychological distress (e.g., Fischer & Shaw, 1999). There is evidence to suggest that, in addition to being harmful, perceived racism varies among African Americans (Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999; Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). Levels of perceived racism relate to how African Americans manage the association between stress and mental health (Kaiser, Major, & McCoy, 2004).

Mahalik, Pierre, and Wan (2006) suggested that self-con- cept, including self-esteem and shyness, was commingled with perceived racism to such a degree that it was diffcult to determine the association between self-concept and psy- chological distress without considering perceived racism. For example, among African Americans, perceived racism was associated with lower self-esteem and higher psycho- logical distress, which subsequently may make it diffcult to initiate a conversation with strangers (Clark et al., 1999; Fischer & Shaw, 1999). African Americans with higher perceived racism had lower use of counseling services and greater diffculty in trusting culturally different counselors. Applying the current literature of the relationships between self-esteem/shyness and psychological distress to African Americans without considering their perceived racism would miss the mission of social justice in counseling (Fischer & Shaw, 1999; Kaiser et al., 2004; Ratts, 2011). To fulfll the mission of social justice, which recognizes and alters op- pressive environmental conditions, we examined the role of an oppressive environment condition (i.e., perceived racism) to better understand the relationship between self-esteem/ shyness and psychological distress.

Self-Esteem, Perceived Racism, and Psychological Distress

Self-esteem refers to an individual’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her worth and encompasses both beliefs about oneself and emotions. It refers to how people feel about themselves, such as feeling competent and pos- sessing a positive self-attitude (Marcussen, 2006). Theo- retically, self-esteem infuences the way people are and their sense of personal value. Self-esteem also affects the way people feel and act in the world and how they relate to others. Those with high self-esteem may believe that they have good qualities, a perception that is critical in maintaining low psychological distress. In recent years, a growing body of research has supported the vulnerability model, which states that low self-esteem operates as a risk factor for psychological distress (Harris, 2010; Orth, Robins, & Roberts, 2008). Individuals with low self-esteem are assumed to have fewer coping resources and thus are prone to distress, whereas those with high self-esteem are assumed to have suffcient coping strategies, which prevent them from spiraling downward into psychologi-

cal distress. Empirically, high self-esteem has been found to be negatively associated with psychological distress, but low self-esteem may signifcantly exacerbate people’s psychological maladjustment (Orth et al., 2008).

Although the relationship between self-esteem and psy- chological distress has been established, when applying this relationship to African Americans, the precise mechanisms of in what conditions and among whom self-esteem may lead to distress have not yet been determined. In other words, conceptualizing a direct association between self-esteem and psychological distress for African Americans may lead to two diffculties. First, Mahalik et al. (2006) found that African Americans’ development of self-esteem closely relates to their racial identity and discrimination. Szymanski and Gupta (2009) found that among African Americans, perceived rac- ism was negatively associated with self-esteem but positively associated with distress. Our study attempted to further ad- vance the literature on self-esteem, perceived racism, and psychological distress by conceptualizing perceived racism as a moderator that may change the mechanism between self-esteem and distress.

Second, Klonoff, Landrine, and Ullman (1999) reported that perceived racism is a ubiquitous part of many Afri- can Americans’ experiences. More than 90% of African Americans have experienced racist events in their lifetime (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). Indeed, racism is insidious in society and permeates many aspects of African American life. Jones (1997) suggested that the experience of racism is multidimensional and can be classifed by using a tripartite typology: individual racism, institutional racism, and cultural racism. Because racism could be experienced by African Americans on almost a daily basis, Landrine and Klonoff (1996) suggested that the assessment of the degrees of racism or appraisal of the racist experience may be more important than measuring the types of racism. For example, two African Americans may experience the same racist event, and yet one may fnd it very stressful or be severely hurt whereas the other dismisses it (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). In addition, perceived racism can signifcantly affect African Americans’ mental health. The more racism that African Americans ex- perience, the higher the levels of psychological distress they report (Fischer & Shaw, 1999).

An understanding of the role of perceived racism would seem to be of great importance to counselors when they serve African Americans. In other words, while we continue to work toward the social justice mission (i.e., a better understanding of racism), it is inevitable to examine how perceived racism may change the established association between self-esteem and distress. Furthermore, we also work to identify under what conditions (i.e., high vs. low perceived racism) is self-esteem negatively associated with the distress of African Americans. Understanding the role of perceived racism could allow coun- selors to determine among whom (i.e., African Americans

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who perceive high vs. low racism) psychological distress can be minimized regardless of the levels of self-esteem. We thus conceptualized that the association between self-esteem and distress among African Americans may depend on the extent of racism that the individual perceives. When African Americans perceive high levels of racism, their self-esteem may be vulnerable to psychological distress. Yet, when African Americans perceive low levels of racism, they may be able to maintain low psychological distress across different levels of self-esteem. Therefore, our frst hypothesis was that per- ceived racism moderates the relation between self-esteem and psychological distress among African Americans. However, when perceiving less racism, African Americans would be able to maintain low psychological distress across different levels of self-esteem. Taken together, although prior studies have addressed perceived racism, almost none addressed it as a moderator variable. Thus, we examined perceived racism as a moderator, rather than simply repeating past studies on the direct effects between self-esteem and psychological distress.

Shyness, Perceived Racism, and Psychological Distress

According to Cheek and Buss (1981), shyness is a person- ality characteristic or a component of self-concept and is characterized by the discomfort and inhibition that may occur in the presence of others. Conceptually, shy people tend to be aware of themselves as social objects more than people with low shyness. Given that shy people tend to feel tense and awkward, they may have higher levels of psychological distress (Eisenberg et al., 1995). Empirically, shyness is pre- dictive of later psychological and social functioning (Beer, 2002). Shyness is positively associated with neuroticism and negatively associated with extroversion, two personality traits of the Big Five scale (Ryan & Xenos, 2011). Shyness is often thought to be associated with anxiety or generalized negative affect, and its relation to psychological distress has been reasonably well documented. Research has also found that shyness is associated with depression (Beer, 2002), low self-esteem, and loneliness (Cheek & Buss, 1981). Thus, based on the current literature, shyness could be a risk factor for psychological distress.

Although shyness could be a vulnerability factor for psy- chological distress, it is still unknown or questionable if this association is valid among African Americans. For example, African Americans may feel uncomfortable when encounter- ing strangers because of shyness or perceived racism from an unwelcoming stranger. Or perhaps the extent of the racism that African Americans perceive exacerbates their shyness on distressed feelings. To date, there has been no rigorous test of the association between shyness and psychological distress among African Americans. Joiner (1997) suggested that the association between shyness and psychological distress

should be considered within the context of a targeted popula- tion. Given the fact that many African Americans encounter racist events (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996) and that the way in which it is experienced is a unique stressor for this popula- tion (Clark et al., 1999; Harrell, 2000), it seems appropriate to include perceptions of racism in the association between shyness and distress among African Americans. Thus, a goal of our study was to explain, at least in part, when and how shy African Americans become psychologically distressed, by using interactive views between shyness and perceived racism on symptoms of distress.

The reason that perceived racism could be a moderator that changes the association between shyness and distress could be due to a variety of issues (Eisenberg et al., 1995). First, when African Americans perceive more racism, they may be more vulnerable to shyness, which has been associ- ated with distress. African Americans who perceive more racism tend to have less resilience and fewer resources to manage daily stress than those who perceive less rac- ism (Beer, 2002). Second, although shyness is associated with psychological distress, more important for African Americans, it is suggested that higher level of perceived racism may make shy African Americans more vulner- able to distress. For African Americans, shyness involves an internal experience of emotional isolation, whereas perceived racism creates an even deeper sense of social marginalization and relational disconnection. Moreover, when African Americans are disturbed by racism, they may become lonely and frustrated and may be unable to manage their shyness, which in turn leads to greater psychological distress (Cowden, 2005). That is, African Americans’ perceived high levels of racism are predicted to worsen the association between shyness and distress. Finally, because shyness does not assume high levels of perceived racism, some shy African Americans may still perceive low levels of racism. Such low levels of perceived racism may make African Americans more confdent and relaxed when encountering strangers.

Thus, low perceived racism may buffer against shyness on negative social and health consequences, and African Ameri- cans reporting low perceived racism may be able to maintain low psychological distress no matter how shy they are. The present reconceptualization thus asserts that shyness will buffer against psychological distress when African Ameri- cans perceive low levels of racism-related stress (i.e., per- ceived racism moderates the relation between shyness and psychological distress among African Americans). In other words, when feeling shy, African Americans who perceive low levels of racism may have a buffer that differentially affects the association between shyness and psychological distress (Clark et al., 1999). Thus, our second hypothesis was that perceived racism moderates the relationship between shyness and psychological distress among African Ameri-

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cans. The less racism perceived by African Americans, the more buffered the relation is; however, those who perceive high levels of racism would lack the buffer against shyness on distress. Therefore, we examined perceived racism as a moderator between shyness and psychological distress rather than simply addressing the direct effects between shyness and psychological distress.

The Present Study In an effort to advance the social justice mission of counseling and psychology, we expanded the current literature on the associa- tion between self-concept and psychological distress for African Americans. Contextualizing this association based on African Americans’ experiences with racism serves two purposes: First, it addresses the emergent social justice mission imperative in counseling; and second, it facilitates counselors’ cultural sensitivity when serving this population. Because perceived racism affects the lives of many African Americans, we constructively tested our two hypotheses with a sample of nonclinical African Americans. Our frst hypothesis aimed to determine whether perceived racism moderates the association between self-esteem and psychological distress. Our second hypothesis examined whether perceived rac- ism moderates the association between shyness and psychological distress. We hope that our fndings will assist African Americans in dealing with the association between self-concept and distress, as well as help advance the current literature on self-esteem and shyness in the face of racism. We placed the association between self-esteem/shyness and psychological distress in the mission of social justice via conceptualizing perceived racism as a moderator to this association.

Method Power Analysis

A power analysis was conducted by using G*Power 3.1.2 (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) to estimate the sample size. A sample size of 386, 55, and 26 was needed for a small, medium, and large effect size, respectively. In our study, a sample size of 394 would detect a two-way interaction effect with a small to medium effect size and a power of .80.

Participants

Our study participants were 394 African American students from one historically Black university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Specifcally, there were 212 (54%) women and 177 (45%) men; fve participants did not identify their gender. Most participants were undergraduate students (17% freshmen, 14% sophomores, 23% juniors, 26% seniors, and 20% graduate school). The participants had declared ma- jors in biology, engineering, education, or psychology. About 77% of participants were 25 years of age or younger. All par- ticipants were informed that their participation was voluntary and reassured that all information would be kept anonymous.

Instruments

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965). The RSES is a 10-item scale that assesses an individual’s self-esteem. It uses a 4-point Likert-type response, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating higher self-esteem. The RSES has a more than adequate coeffcient alpha of .92 and a test–retest cor- relation over 2 weeks of .85 (Kwan, John, & Thein, 2007). In our study, the coeffcient alpha was .89. Convergent validity is reported between .56 and .83 and discriminant validity at .53 (Robins, Hendin, & Trzesniewski, 2001). The RSES cor- related with one-item self-reports of self-esteem and has been used as a brief and reliable measure of self-esteem (Robins et al., 2001). These pieces of evidence indicate the construct and concurrent validity of the RSES.

Cheek and Buss Shyness and Sociability Scale (CBSS; Cheek & Buss, 1981). The CBSS was used to assess African Americans’ levels of shyness and focuses on shyness-related behaviors, emotions, and cognitions. An example of a shy- ness item is “I fnd it hard to talk to strangers.” Participants responded on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (very uncharacteristic of me) to 4 (very characteristic of me). Responses are summed to create a score for shyness. The validity and reliability of the CBSS are well established and supporting data can be found elsewhere (e.g., Cheek & Buss, 1981). The CBSS has a more than adequate coeffcient alpha of .90 and a test–retest correlation over 2 weeks of .88 (Cheek & Buss, 1981). In our study, the coeffcient alpha was .85. Shyness is found to be signifcantly positively associated with self-consciousness and fearfulness and had discriminant validity with self-esteem (Cheek & Buss, 1981). These pieces of evidence indicate the construct and concurrent validity of the CBSS.

Schedule of Racist Events (SRE; Landrine & Klonoff, 1996). The SRE is an 18-item instrument developed to as- sess African Americans’ frequencies of experiences of rac- ist events during the past year (SRE–Recent Racist Events) and during their lifetime (SRE–Lifetime Racist Events), as well as the overall degree of racism-related stress (SRE– Appraised Racist Events). Each item is presented three times. For the two frequency scales, a 6-point response scale is used (1 = if this has never happened to you, 6 = if this has happened almost all of the time [more than 70% of the time]), and for the stress scale, another 6-point scale is used (1 = not at all, 6 = extremely). A sample item is “How different would your life be now if you had not been treated in a racist and unfair way?” Landrine and Klonoff (1996) reported reliability coeffcients ranging from .94 to .95 for the three subscales, and split-half reliability co- effcients ranging from .91 to .93. Evidence of the SRE’s validity was observed in the correlations between the three SRE subscales and all of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) subscales. Our sample yielded coeffcient alphas of

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.90 for the SRE–Recent Racist Events subscale, .88 for the SRE–Lifetime Racist Events subscale, and .87 for the SRE–Appraised Racist Events subscale.

BSI (Derogatis, 1993). The BSI is a 53-item self-report measure of the frequency of experiencing a list of physical and psychological symptoms during the past 7 days. The measure consists of subscales to assess symptoms in fve dimensions: Somatization, Anxiety, Obsessive–Compulsiveness, Interper- sonal Sensitivity, and Depression. Participants respond on a 4-point rating scale (1 = not at all, 4 = extremely). A sample item is “Your feelings being easily hurt.” Derogatis (1993) re- ported reliability coeffcients ranging from .84 to .87 for each of the subscales, 1-week test–retest reliability coeffcients ranging from .75 to .84, and support for criterion-related validity and construct validity. Data from our study yielded a coeffcient alpha of .92 for the total scale and alphas of .89, .84, .86, .88, .79, and .88 for the subscales Somatization, Anxiety, Obsessive–Compulsiveness, Interpersonal Sensitiv- ity, Depression, and Global Severity Index (GSI), respectively. In our study, we used the GSI to measure psychological distress given that the GSI is the most sensitive indicator of the respondent’s distress level (Derogatis & Savitz, 1999).

Demographic questionnaire. The demographic question- naire includes questions on race/ethnicity, age, sex, year in college, and whether study participants have had therapy or counseling.

Procedure

Before the survey began, a research coordinator visited classes to explain the purpose of the study. Participants were informed that the goal of the study was to identify factors that can change psychological distress among African Americans. Each participant was asked to read and sign a consent form prior to his or her participation. Participants completed a questionnaire package containing the RSES, CBSS, SRE, BSI, and a demographic questionnaire. The questionnaires did not contain any questions that could be used to identify the participants. The students were debriefed upon the completion of the questionnaire. All data were kept in a secure research lab. The total possible sample was 440 students; however, 25 students did not complete the survey, leaving the sample at 415 participants and a response rate of 94%. Later, 21 students were removed from the sample of 415 participants because they responded to a validity item inaccurately. We only used the valid data in our analysis, and the valid response rate was 90% (i.e., [440 – 25 – 21]/440 = 90%).

Results Preliminary Analyses and Descriptive Statistics

We conducted a post hoc power analysis to estimate the power. A sample size of 394 has .81, 1.0, and 1.0 power for a small, medium, and large effect size, respectively. Analy-

ses were conducted to examine the descriptive statistics, internal consistency reliability estimates, and correlations among variables of interest. Table 1 shows the correlations, means, standard deviations, and alpha coeffcients among the variables. The zero-order correlations among the vari- ables indicated that self-esteem was negatively associated with psychological distress, but shyness and perceived racism were positively associated with distress. We then conducted a series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on psychological distress to examine whether the dependent variable varied as a function of participants’ sex and years in college. Neither sex nor years in college had a signif- cant effect on psychological distress, F(1, 388) = 0.58, p > .05 and F(6, 387) = 0.69, p > .05, respectively. Yet, to college students, psychological distress may be perceived differently according to differences in age (Thorsteinsson & Brown, 2009); therefore, it was critical to control these latter factors before conducting our multiple regression analyses.

Another issue in multiple regression analysis is normality, because substantial departures from normality can adversely affect the results, and so the data needed to meet regression assumptions of normality, linearity, and homoscedasticity (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2003). Results of our mul- tiple regression analyses indicated that the skewedness of residuals ranged from –0.14 (z = –1.21, p > .05) to –0.09 (z = –0.94, p > .05), and the kurtosis of residuals ranged from 0.54 (z = 1.65, p > .05) to 0.57 (z = 1.68, p > .05). The results indicated no statistical departure from normality. In terms of the relationship between self-esteem and psychological distress, self-esteem negatively contributed to the variance of psychological distress (see Table 2). However, there was a positive relationship between shyness and psychological distress (i.e., as shyness increased, so did psychological distress; see Table 3).

TabLe 1

Correlations, Means, Standard Deviations, and alphas among the Variables

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1. Age 2. Self-esteem 3. Shyness 4. Perceived

racism 5. Psychological

distress

— –.02 –.03

.08

–.03

— –.20***

–.06

–.24***

—

.09*

.42***

—

.34*** —

M SD a

20.59 3.73

NA

2.41 0.24

.89

2.04 0.49

.85

1.74 0.70

.90

0.50 0.45

.88

Note. N = 394. NA = not applicable. *p < .05. ***p < .001.

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TabLe 2

Two-Way Interaction of Self-esteem × Perceived Racism on Psychological Distress

Step and Variable B SE B b ΔR2 ΔF

Step 1 (covariate) .01 1.13 Age –0.01 .01 –.07

Step 2 (predictor) .09 44.50*** SE –0.14 .02 –.30***

Step 3 (moderator) .01 3.93* PR 0.08 .04 .17

Step 4 (two-way interaction) .02 10.11**

SE × PR –0.07 .02 –.14**

Note. N = 394. SE = self-esteem; PR = perceived racism. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Primary Analysis

We frst standardized the covariate, predictor, and moderator variables to reduce multicollinearity (Aiken & West, 1991; Frazier, Tix, & Barron, 2004). We then created two interac- tion terms: Self-Esteem × Perceived Racism and Shyness × Perceived Racism. Two regression analyses were conducted; one with self-esteem as the predictor variable and the other with shyness as the predictor variable.

Perceived racism as a moderator on the association between self-esteem and psychological distress. To test Hy- pothesis 1, in Step 1 of the regression, we entered age as a covariate to control for the potential confounding effects on psychological distress. In Step 2, participants’ self-esteem was entered. In Step 3, participants’ perceived racism was entered. In Step 4, an interaction term, representing Self- Esteem × Perceived Racism, was entered (see Table 2). Table 2 showed that, after controlling for the covariate (in Step 1), self-esteem in Step 2 accounted for 9% of the variance of psychological distress. In Step 3, perceived racism accounted for an additional 1% of psychological distress (ΔR2 = .01, p <

Chao, Longo, Wang, Dasgupta, & Fear

distress (ΔR2 = .02, p < .01). Champoux and Peters (1987) and Chaplin (1991) conducted a comprehensive review of social science literature and reported that interaction terms typically account for approximately 1% to 3% of the vari- ance, although Cohen (1992) suggested that an R2 value of .01 indicates a small effect size.

After a signifcant two-way interaction effect was found, the next step was to interpret the interaction by plotting per- ceived racism scores for self-esteem scores of one standard deviation above and below the mean (Aiken & West, 1991; Frazier et al., 2004). To check whether the slopes of simple regression lines at high and low perceived racism signifcantly differed from zero, we conducted simple regression analyses as outlined by Aiken and West (1991). Its criterion variable (i.e., psychological distress) is regressed on the predictor (i.e., self-esteem), the moderator (i.e., perceived racism) at a conditional value (e.g., high or low), and the predictor by the moderator. The t test for the regression coeffcient of the predictor variable in this equation did refect the signifcance of the simple slope (i.e., whether the slope was signifcantly different from zero).

Figure 1 shows that the slope with high social support was signifcantly different from zero (b = –0.20, p < .05), but the slope with low perceived racism was not signifcantly dif- ferent from zero (b = –0.07, p > .05). These results indicate that high perceived racism does not have a moderating effect on the association between self-esteem and psychological distress, whereas low perceived racism serves as a buffer to maintain less psychological distress. The difference between

= High Racism = Low Racism

0.8 —

High: b = –0.20, b = .07 0.7 —

.05). Finally, in Step 4, the two-way interaction of self-esteem and perceived racism signifcantly predicted psychological

TabLe 3

Two-Way Interaction of Shyness × Perceived Racism on Psychological Distress

Step and Variable B SE B b ΔR2 ΔF

P sy

ch o

lo g

ic a

l D

is tr

e ss 0.6 —

0.5 —

0.4 —

0.3 —

Low: b = –0.07, b = .06 0.2 —

Step 1 (covariate) .01 1.10 0.1 — Age –0.01 .01 –.07

Step 2 (predictor) .14 75.69*** 0 — Shyness 0.18 .02 .38*** — —

Step 3 (moderator) .01 4.65* Low Self-Esteem High Self-Esteem

PR 0.08 .04 .17* Self-Esteem

Step 4 (two-way FIguRe 1 interaction) .03 17.67***

Shyness × PR 0.08 .02 .18*** Interaction effect of Self-esteem and Perceived Note. N = 394. PR = perceived racism. Racism on Psychological Distress *p < .05. ***p < .001. With Perceived Racism as a Moderator

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Perceived Racism Among African Americans

these two regression lines was also signifcant, as indicated by the signifcant regression coeffcients found for the interac- tion terms in the tests of the moderator effects, according to the procedure recommended by Aiken and West (1991) and 0.8 — Frazier et al. (2004).

0.7 —Perceived racism as a moderator on the association between shyness and psychological distress. After analyz- ing Hypothesis 1, we analyzed Hypothesis 2 in the same manner. The initial four steps of the multiple regression analysis were repeated to test Hypothesis 2. Table 3 shows that, after controlling for the covariate (in Step 1), shyness in Step 2 accounted for 14% of psychological distress. In Step 3, perceived racism accounted for an additional 1% of P

sy ch

o lo

g ic

a l D

is tr

e ss 0.6 —

0.5 —

0.4 —

0.3 —

0.2 —

= High Racism = Low Racism

High: b = 0.26, b = .08

Low: b = 0.10, b = .07psychological distress (ΔR2 = .01, p < .05). Finally, in Step 4, the two-way interaction of shyness and perceived racism 0.1 — signifcantly predicted psychological distress (ΔR2 = .03, p <

0 — .001). Because interaction terms in social science literature — —

and studies typically account for approximately 1% to 3% Low Shyness High Shyness

Shyness of the variance (Champoux & Peters, 1987; Chaplin, 1991), the 3% of psychological distress accounted for by Shyness × Perceived Racism appears important for counselors and scholars when working with African Americans.

After fnding a signifcant two-way interaction effect, we interpreted the interaction by plotting perceived racism scores for shyness scores of one standard deviation above and below the mean (Aiken & West, 1991). Its criterion vari- able (i.e., psychological distress) is regressed on the predic- tor (i.e., shyness), the moderator (i.e., perceived racism) at a conditional value (e.g., high or low), and the predictor by the moderator. The t test for the regression coeffcient of the predictor variable in this equation did refect the signifcance of the simple slope (i.e., whether the slope is signifcantly different from zero). Figure 2 shows that the slope with high social support was signifcantly different from zero (b = 0.26, p < .001), but the slope with low perceived racism was insignifcantly different from zero (b = 0.10, p > .05). These results indicate that only low perceived racism serves as a buffer to maintain less psychological distress, whereas high perceived racism does not have a moderating effect on the positive association between shyness and distress. The difference between these two regression lines was also signifcant, as indicated by the signifcant regression coef- fcients found for the interaction terms in the tests of the moderator effects, according to the procedure recommended by Aiken and West (1991).

Discussion The results of the present study provided initial support for Hypotheses 1 and 2. With regard to Hypothesis 1, levels of perceived racism changed the relationship between self- esteem and psychological distress. With regard to Hypoth- esis 2, levels of perceived racism moderated the association

FIguRe 2

Interaction effect of Shyness and Perceived Racism on Psychological Distress

With Perceived Racism as a Moderator

between shyness and psychological distress of African Americans. This study offers important contributions to researching and counseling African Americans in two ways. First, this study extends a growing body of research on the relationship between self-esteem and distress among African Americans. When studying or counseling this population, rather than assuming that self-esteem is always negatively associated with psychological distress, it is necessary to ex- amine the conditions (high vs. low perceived racism) under which self-esteem would be more and less likely to predict distress. Our fndings provide novel insights into the role of African Americans’ perceived racism. The current literature that suggests higher self-esteem relates to less psychological distress appears insuffcient for African Americans. When they perceive more racism, African Americans experience more diffculty in maintaining low psychological distress across different levels of self-esteem. In particular, African Americans with higher perceived racism are vulnerable to lower self-esteem, which is associated with higher distress. When they perceive less racism, African Americans feel able to manage the association between self-esteem and distress and maintain less distress regardless of whether they have high or low self-esteem.

Second, although shyness was positively associated with psychological distress (Joiner, 1997), unfortunately, applying this association to African Americans without considering their cultural context (i.e., racism) amounts to missing the mission of social justice in counseling (Goodman et al., 2004). To effectively counsel African Americans, counselors

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must understand the role of perceived racism in the associa- tion between shyness and distress given that experiences of racism are unavoidable for many African Americans. When feeling shy, African Americans would need assurance that others (e.g., White people, government, society) are willing to accept their struggles with racism. Unfortunately, some people, social policies, and institutions are operating under misunderstandings and stereotypes about African Americans and cannot offer such assurance and acceptance (Clark et al., 1999). It is not surprising that African Americans perceiving high racism in their environments were quite vulnerable as they experienced limited buffering in regard to their shyness and psychological distress. Moreover, many African Ameri- cans live at the crossroads of countless stressors—struggling with racism, problems with interacting with people or strang- ers, worries about mingling with a group of people—while also facing everyday diffculties. All of these stressors can make them feel that they are overwhelmed by handling many challenging tasks, including not only managing their shyness but also struggling with racism. These multiple stressors also may make them vulnerable because their shyness is positively related to distress when they perceive high racism.

Our results additionally show that low perceived racism could be a buffer against shyness on psychological distress. When African Americans do not feel inferior, prejudiced, or discriminated against because of being Black, they may have more internal resources (e.g., culture-related coping) to maintain low psychological distress across different levels of shyness. Thus, perceived racism in our study serves a moder- ating role between shyness and psychological distress. High perceived racism would exacerbate this association, but low perceived racism was able to help African Americans main- tain low distress when feeling shy. In practical terms, when African Americans feel shy, understanding how they perceive racism may be a good beginning to help them maintain peace of mind. Ignoring the role of perceived racism may exacerbate their distress.

Finally, it is important to be aware that the interaction effects signifcantly contributed 2% to 3% to the variance of psychological distress. On one hand, it is typical that the interaction effects of many studies are within the range between 1% to 3% (e.g., Champoux & Peters, 1987). On the other hand, when there is a signifcant interaction effect, the impact of one variable (i.e., self-esteem, shyness) on distress depends on the level of the other variable (i.e., perceived racism). In our results, independent variables (e.g., shyness, self-esteem) explained 9% to 14% of the variance of psy- chological distress. This indicated that (a) it is imperative for counselors and educators to understand that self-esteem and shyness are contributors to African Americans’ experience of distress, and (b) the contribution of individual variables such as self-esteem and shyness validates the prior studies about the direct associations between self-concept and psychological

distress. However, our two-way signifcant interaction effects from our results clearly indicate that interpretation of the individual variables (i.e., self-esteem, shyness) only may be incomplete without considering a moderator variable (i.e., perceived racism; Frazier et al., 2004). Applying the direct association between self-esteem/shyness and psychological distress to African Americans demonstrates two problems. First, statistically, the interpretation is defcient because there were signifcant interaction effects between self-esteem/shy- ness and perceived racism. Second, this application misses a critical component (e.g., recognizing an oppressive condi- tion such as racism) in the social justice mission, which is a necessary factor in providing culturally competent care (Ratts et al., 2010).

Limitations

Although our fndings extend the current knowledge on self- esteem (Orth et al., 2008) and shyness (Cheek & Buss, 1981) to African Americans in a historically Black university, our study has three limitations. First, self-esteem, shyness, and psychological distress were conceptualized on the basis of African Americans’ experiences and used perceived racism as a moderator variable; therefore, these fndings cannot be generalized to other racial/ethnic minority populations such as Latinos/as. Racism is a shared experience among many racial/ethnic minority people; however, people of different racial backgrounds may have particular experiences of racial discrimination for their group. For example, Asian Americans may often experience stereotypes such as being categorized as the model minority (Liang, Li, & Kim, 2004). This could result in a substantially different experience than those of other minority populations. Moreover, African Americans who are not in college may have tremendously different ex- periences than those who are in college. Thus, our fndings may be limited when generalizing to African Americans who do not have experiences in college. In addition, our data were collected at a historically Black university, which may create a different culture for African American students than the cultures found at other universities (e.g., Hispanic-serving or predominantly White universities). As a result, our fndings may be limited in generalizing to students not in historically Black universities and colleges.

Second, our study examined two components of self- concept—self-esteem and shyness—to demonstrate whether and when perceived racism moderates the associations (i.e., self-esteem and distress, shyness and distress) among African Americans. However, there was no focus placed on the as- sociation between these two types of self-concept, although they were found to be negatively associated (Cheek & Buss, 1981). Our study did not examine the interaction between self-esteem and shyness, although it is understood that some African Americans may simultaneously have struggled with these two types of self-concept. Because self-esteem and shy-

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ness were treated as predictors, our fndings did not focus on the buffering effect of high self-esteem and low shyness. This limitation could be addressed by future studies. Finally, the participants were recruited from a historically Black univer- sity, and they may have perceptions of racism different from African American students on predominantly White campuses (Brinson, 2005). Therefore, the results of this study may have limitations in being generalized to African Americans in other environments such as a majority White campus, community population, and hospital setting.

Recommendations for Future Research

Three recommendations can be made for future research. First, it would be useful to replicate this study among people in different cultures. For example, perceived racism may affect the lives of many racial/ethnic minority people, but people of different cultures may need to be assessed with other types of racism measurements to better refect their experiences of racial discrimination. For example, to repli- cate this study to Asian Americans, researchers can measure their perceived racism with a model minority scale (Liang et al., 2004) that assesses racism closely related to Asian Americans’ experiences. In addition, because self-esteem was negatively related to shyness (r = –.20, p < .05), future studies can advance this current methodology to examine a three-way interaction (i.e., Self-Esteem × Shyness × Perceived Racism). The three-way interaction examination may further enhance the current knowledge on African Americans’ psychological distress in different conditions. Just as important, future studies will be able to address the question of what conditions among African Americans (high vs. low self-esteem, high vs. low shyness) lead to the highest levels of distress when perceived racism is present. Future studies may also examine under what conditions (high vs. low self-esteem, high vs. low shyness) low perceived racism can serve as a buffer against distress.

Implications for Counseling

This study has three implications for counseling African Americans. First, understanding the role of racism is as cru- cial to counseling African Americans as social justice is to counseling. African Americans have suffered from racism for hundreds of years, so ignoring the role of racism may equate to applying a uniform and unyielding standard of counseling to this population. In addition, the signifcant moderation effects of racism indicate that helping African Americans deal with their perceived racism could be a critical factor in counseling them on how to manage these two associations (i.e., self- esteem and distress, shyness and distress). Stereotypes about African Americans, their lower employment rate, and limited educational resources are indexes of perceived racism that fail to minimize African Americans’ shyness in relationships (Watkins, Terrell, Miller, & Terrell, 1989). As our study and

the literature review show, some African Americans have high levels of perceived racism, so counselors should encourage African American clients to talk about their perceptions of racism rather than assume that most African Americans have similar perceptions of racism. Through knowing that some African Americans are suffering from high perceived racism or lack buffers against negative self-concept such as poor self-esteem or shyness, counselors can help them explore any specifc components of perceived racism that may be contributing to their psychological distress.

Second, because perceived racism comes from various sources, such as personal racism, institutional racism, and cultural racism (Harrell, 2000), it is necessary to explore how different levels of racism relate to African Americans’ psychological distress. Counselors can facilitate African Americans’ coping with perceived racism. Helping Afri- can Americans manage racism could help them overcome shyness and low self-esteem and subsequently decrease their psychological distress. For example, counselors can offer culturally appropriate psychoeducation to help African Americans understand that racism affects mental health, including by leading to symptoms of anxiety and depression. Learning how to handle racism could possibly reduce their psychological distress; counselors can also facilitate African Americans’ resilience and competence in reducing perceived racism. Indeed, looking back at Black history, despite the long list of adverse conditions and centuries of exclusion from the socioeconomic mainstream, African Americans have managed to make signif icant contributions to American society. Examples are legion: their vibrant Afro-centric cultural independence; unique legacy of social activism; unparalleled advances in the arts, sports, and business; and distinctive creativity of spirit, all of which have enriched our nation. Counselors can reinforce African American clients’ awareness of their contributions to America to help strengthen their competence in handling racism.

Finally, to integrate the mission of social justice into counseling, counselors should demonstrate cross-cultural empathy to show that regardless of their cultural background, they understand and are sensitive to the negative realities of life that many African Americans face (Watkins et al., 1989). Counselors should also be aware of the role of per- ceived racism in the therapeutic dynamic between counselors and African American clients. Some crucial questions for counselors to consider include: How much do my African American clients perceive racism from my counseling, my agency, and even my institutional policy? Is there any racism-related issue in the service (e.g., intake process, therapeutic modality, implicit assumption toward African Americans)? As noted, African Americans perceive racism in their living environment and daily life, and it is a part of the mission of social justice that counselors are sensitive

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to this to prevent African Americans from reexperiencing racism in counseling.

In conclusion, our study is the frst one to examine the moderation effect of perceived racism on the two associations: between self-esteem and psychological distress, and between shyness and psychological distress. Our study advances the current knowledge regarding when self-concept (i.e., self- esteem and shyness) of African Americans (experiencing high vs. low perceived racism) relates to psychological distress. Because only low perceived racism has been able to buffer the impact of shyness and low self-esteem on psychological distress, counselors can facilitate African Americans’ abilities to manage racism. In addition to contributing to the feld of counseling with empirical evidence, our study also fulflls the mission of social justice to provide culturally sensitive counseling for African Americans.

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