African-Centered Spirituality as a Buffer of Psychological Symptoms Related to Specific Forms of Racism for African Americans

Bibliographic Data

ID2343648
AuthorsTawanda M Greer (0000-0003-3340-0708, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue2
Pages165-193
Publication date2024-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Black Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0095-7984 • E-ISSN: 1552-4558
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00957984231222313
OpenAlexW4389789201
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited48

The current study was designed to examine African-centered spirituality as a moderator of the effects of specific forms of racism on psychological outcomes in a sample of 201 African American adults. African-centered spirituality was hypothesized to influence the severity of racism-related psychological outcomes, such that greater use of this strategy would be associated with less severe psychological symptoms in relation to forms of racism exposure. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to test the study hypotheses. Statistically significant interaction effects revealed that low use of African-centered spirituality was associated with greater severity in somatization, depression, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in relation to increased exposure to cultural and institutional racism. Significant interactions were also revealed between individual racism and African-centered spirituality in predicting obsessive-compulsive and somatization symptoms, which suggested that greater use of this strategy was associated with an increase in symptoms in relation to increased exposure to this form of racism. The overall findings suggest that high use of African-centered spirituality is not an effective coping strategy to manage all forms of racism

African american · Coping (psychology · MEDLINE · Mental health · Moderation · Multilevel model · Psychotherapist · PsycINFO · Racism · Sociology · Somatization · Spirituality · Clinical Psychology · Gender Studies · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology