Monday, October 1, 2018

Ethnicity-Related Sources of Stress
People encounter many stressful events in their lives. Unfortunately, ethnic minorities have additional sources of stress related to being in an ethnic minority group. Several researchers at New Jersey colleges and universities recently reviewed the research findings on ethnicity-related sources of stress.
What was the research about?
In particular, they described ethnicity-related sources of stress stemming from discrimination, stereotypes, and conformity pressure.
Ethnic discrimination involves unfair treatment that a person attributes to his or her ethnicity. At lest five types of ethnic discrimination occur: (a) insults and ethnic slurs; (b) shunning; (c) actions that express negative evaluations; (d) denial of equal treatment or access; and (e) actual or threatened harm. Ethnic discrimination is a source of stress because members of ethnic minority groups can become stressed about the ever-present possibility of being discriminating against. Ethnic minorities need to decide whether ethnic discrimination will occur in situations they encounter, decide whether to become part of these situations or avoid them, and prepare for the possibility of being discriminated against.
Two ethnicity-related sources of stress are stereotype threat and stereotype-confirmation concern. Stereotype threat is the condition of being at risk of appearing to confirm a negative stereotype about a group to which one belongs. Stereotype-confirmation concern is the long-term or recurring experience of stereotype threat. Worrying about acting in ways that others would expect based on stereotypes about one’s ethnic minority group can be stressful.
Own-group conformity pressure is the experience of being pressured or held back by one’s ethnic group’s expectations specifying appropriate or inappropriate behavior for the group. Some African Americans who do well in school, for example, get ridiculed by their peers about “acting white.”
Ethnicity-related sources of stress are real. Research has shown that they are related to negative mental and bodily declines in health
Why should it matter to me?
Member of ethnic minority groups may want to look at discrimination, stereotypes, and conformity pressure as possible reasons for the stress they experience and focus on them when trying to mange their stress.
Source: Contrada, R. J., Ashmore, R. D., Gary, M. L., Coups, E., Egeth, J. D., Sewell, A., Ewell, K., Goyal, T. M., Chasse, V. (2000). Ethnicity-related sources of stress and their effects on well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 136-139.