There are two key benefits of examining ethnic identity as a moderator between RSD and health. First, the theoretical and empirical literature has indicated that not all characteristics of ethnic identity are uniformly protective-and in some instances, certain aspects of ethnic identity may actually worsen the negative effects of discrimination [39,40,43,58,59]. Understanding which aspects of identity are protective-and which are not-may be crucial in developing culturally tailored interventions that address discrimination and psychological well-being. Second, ethnic identity has been minimally investigated among YSMBM in general, and in the context of RSD specifically. The very personal and often vulnerable nature of intimate partner-seeking makes RSD a unique racialized stressor. That RSD is defined as an online-specific phenomenon also makes it unique-given that discrimination is typically more brazen, prejudices more overt, and rejection more frequent–in high density, quasi-anonymous settings such as online venues [60,61,62,63,64]. The novel RSD scale used in this study captures a broad scope of these experiences and distinguishes between expressions of discrimination to a greater degree than most measures of discrimination . Its distinction between race of perpetrator (same-race and White perpetration of RSD) is especially useful, as there is a noteworthy deficit of research that accounts for differences between in-group and out-group discrimination in the context of RSD. Examination of same-race perpetration of RSD is rare in general, though we have found that YSMBM report complex attitudes toward same-race perpetration of RSD in previous work .
Given the importance of ethnic identity in the context of race-related stress, the current study aims to examine the ways in which ethnic identity might serve to modify the relationship between RSD and psychological well-being among YSMBM. Continue reading “1.3. Does Ethnic Identity Buffer or Exacerbate the Impact of RSD?”