Dissertation
INTEGRATING PERSONALITY AND AFRICAN AMERICAN RACIAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY IN A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION AND WELL-BEING
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/3016
Abstract
This study was designed to determine (a) how racial/ethnic identity and perceived discrimination influence the relationship between personality and subjective well-being and (b) if racial/ethnic identity buffered against the effects of perceived discrimination on subjective well-being. Few studies have used a metatheoretical approach to study these constructs or included personality as a predictor variable.
Participants were 275 African Americans from across the United States, ages 18-65. They completed a demographic questionnaire, and five other questionnaires that assessed the Big Five personality factors, racial identity attitudes, perceived discrimination, and subjective well being (i.e., positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction). The hypotheses were: 1) The mediation models depicted in Figures 1-6, and their direct and indirect effects, will provide a good fit to the data (i.e., the overall models will have good fit indices and the hypothesized path coefficients will be statistically significant), 2) The negative relationship between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being will be weaker for African Americans who report more developed racial identity attitudes, 3) The strength of the negative relationship between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being is not moderated by less developed racial identity attitudes.
Hypothesis 1 findings indicated that more neurotic participants reported experiencing more discrimination and poorer subjective well-being, more conscientious participants reported experiencing more discrimination and greater subjective well-being, and participants who were open to experience endorsed more attitudes consistent with the Internalization Multiculturalist Inclusive racial identity attitude. Also, more neurotic individuals reported greater pre-encounter attitudes reflecting self-hatred, which, in turn, predicted lower subjective well-being. Hypothesis 2 findings indicated that the effects of perceived discrimination on subjective well-being did not depend on participants' endorsement of the three more developed racial identity attitudes. Hypothesis 3 findings indicated that the strength of the relationship between perceived discrimination and positive affect was influenced by both Pre-Encounter Miseducation and Pre-Encounter Self-hatred racial identity attitudes. This study further clarifies how racial/ethnic identity and perceived discrimination, in combination with personality, impacts the subjective well-being of African Americans.
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Details
- Title
- INTEGRATING PERSONALITY AND AFRICAN AMERICAN RACIAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY IN A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION AND WELL-BEING
- Creators
- Quaneecia L. Rainey
- Contributors
- Timothy Church (Advisor)Laurie McCubbin (Committee Member)Paula Groves-Price (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Kinesiology and Educational Psychology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 146
- Identifiers
- 99900581660301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation