Religious Experiences, Expectations of Discrimination, and Distress Among Biracial Christians

Abstract

Similar to their monoracial counterparts, Black–White biracial individuals experience negative psychological and social responses to discrimination and racial stigma, including experiencing fears of future discrimination (anticipated discrimination). Extending minority stress theory (MST) to the stigma-related experiences of Christians, a unique subgroup of the biracial population, this study assessed responses to future expectations of multiracial discrimination (FEMD; discrimination based upon biracial status) among a community sample of 199 Black–White biracial Christians. We hypothesized that various religious/spiritual experiences might moderate the association between FEMD and distress. Several moderation analyses were conducted evaluating the role of God-centered self-esteem, communion with God, and church support in moderating the association between FEMD and depression, anxiety, and stress. Church support moderated the association between FEMD and depression and stress in an unexpected direction. As participants’ FEMD increased, they reported more depression and stress symptoms, with more depressive and stress symptoms endorsed at medium and high levels of church support but not at low levels of church support. Furthermore, despite the lack of a moderating role in the association between FEMD and distress variables, communion with God demonstrated a negative association (a small effect) with depression, and God-centered self-esteem showed a negative association with depression (a medium effect) and anxiety (a small effect). Clinical implications and directions for future research are presented.