Emotional self-efficacy informs the interrelation between discrimination, ethnic identity and psychotic-like experiences.

Abstract

Race-based discrimination has been identified as a risk factor for psychotic-like experiences (PLE) among immigrant populations of color. Although ethnic identity is theorized to protect against the negative mental health impact of discrimination, empirical confirmation remains mixed. We posit mixed results are in part due to the omission of individual differences in trait emotional self-efficacy, which includes self-perceptions about emotional capabilities necessary to navigate in a multicultural world. Accordingly, this study assessed the interrelation between trait emotional self-efficacy, formally recognized as trait emotional intelligence or trait EI, ethnic identity, and racial discrimination in predicting PLE using a sample of racial and ethnic minority immigrant emerging adults (N = 456; Mage = 19.97). Hierarchical linear regressions indicated that discrimination and trait EI were associated with higher and lower PLE respectively, regardless of ethnic identity. Additionally, the association between ethnic identity and PLE, in the presence of discrimination, was negative and significant only among individuals with low trait EI as indicated by slope difference tests and the Johnson-Neyman method. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).