Abstract
Black individuals have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, likely due in part to historically rooted stressors that lie at the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and racism. We used secondary data from The Association of Black Psychologists’ multi-state needs assessment of 2480 Black adults to examine the link between race-related COVID stress (RRCS) and mental health outcomes. We also examined the moderating roles of everyday discrimination, cultural mistrust, Black activism, Black identity, and spirituality/religiosity in these associations. T-tests revealed that several demographic and cultural factors are associated with RRCS endorsement. A series of regression analyses showed that endorsement of RRCS is associated with higher psychological distress and lower well-being, above and beyond several sociodemographic characteristics. While traditional cultural protective factors did not buffer against the effects of RRCS on mental health, cultural mistrust strengthened the positive association between RRCS and psychological distress; nonetheless, the association of cultural mistrusts with psychological distress was only seen in those who endorsed RRCS. We provide recommendations for policymakers, clinicians, and researchers to consider the impact of RRCS when addressing Black mental health and well-being in the age of COVID-19.
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Data Availability
The COVID-19 Communities of Color Needs Assessment Phase 1 data are available on the National Urban League website at https://nul.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/21.35.NUL_.Covid_.Layout.D9_v9.pdf (Executive Summary) and https://nul.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/21.35.NUL_.Covid_.ABPsi_.D3.2_v3.pdf (Association of Black Psychologists).
Change history
24 July 2023
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01726-y
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), ABPsi's National Office staff, organizational partners in The Alliance of National Psychological Associations for Racial and Ethnic Equity, and the 18 participating community partner orgnizations for their work in conducting the COVID-19 Communities of Color Needs Assessment Phase 1. We would also like to acknowledge the individual contributions of Huberta Jackson-Lowman, PhD and Cheryl Grills, PhD in conducting the Needs Assessment and Paula Silva, PhD; Monica Mitchell, PhD; Julia Rabin, M.A.; and Savanha Renald, B.A. in preparing this manuscript.
Funding
This research study is supported by the National Urban League and the Congressional Tri-Caucus. Funding was provided for The Needs Assessment Phase 1 through grants to the National Urban League, and subawards were distributed to members and partners organizations of the Alliance of National Psychological Associations for Racial and Ethnic Equity, Dr. Cheryl Grills- principal investigator. The National Urban League secured funding with grants from The W. K. Kellogg Foundation, JPB Foundation, Ford Foundation, The California Endowment, Weingart Foundation, and The California Wellness Foundation. The Association of Black Psychologists also provided funds beyond the grant for data management and statistical support. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 2035701. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The work in this study was also supported by the Albert C. Yates Fellowship Program.
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The study conception and design for this secondary study were led by SC and FJ. All authors contributed to revisions of the study design and analysis plan. Study design and data collection for the original primary study was performed by SRC and KB. The data analysis was performed by SC, and all authors contributed to interpretation of the data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SC. All authors provided edits on previous versions of the manuscript as well as read and approved the final manuscript.
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This research involved the use of human participants. The University of Cincinnati’s IRB deemed this study non-human subjects research due to our use of deidentified secondary data. The original study protocol was approved by The MayaTech Corporation’s IRB, Protocol No. 2020-001.
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Castelin, S., Jacquez, F., Burlew, A.K. et al. Dual Pandemics: Race-Related COVID Stress and Mental Health Outcomes in Black Individuals. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01683-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01683-6