RACE,PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION,AND EMOTION‐FOCUSED COPING

This study examined the associations among race, perceived discrimination, and emotion‐focused coping. Participants were 3,688 respondents (160 Blacks and 3,533 non‐Hispanic Whites) to the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. We tested our hypotheses with analyses of covariance and multiple regression, and we confirmed mediation with bias‐corrected bootstrap confidence intervals. All analyses controlled for age and gender; educational attainment and household income were included as covariates in additional analyses. Consistent with previous research, Blacks engaged in more emotion‐focused coping than did Whites. However, as predicted, perceived discrimination explained the association between race and emotion‐focused coping. Being Black compared with White predicted more perceived discrimination; in turn, perceived discrimination predicted more emotion‐focused coping. Perceived discrimination fully mediated the association between race and emotion‐focused coping. Findings demonstrate that relying on emotion‐focused coping is a function of facing daily discrimination rather than racial status.