Gender differences in African Americans' reactions to and coping with discrimination: Results from The National Study of American Life.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine coping behaviors in the context of discrimination and possible gender-specific differences among a national sample of African American adults in the 2001-2003 National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Results show that in multivariable logistic regression models, African American women (vs. African American men) were less likely to accept discrimination as a fact of life but were more likely to get mad about experiences of discrimination, pray about it, and talk to someone. After adjusting for differences in the frequency of discrimination, African American women were also significantly more likely to try to do something about it. African American men were more likely to accept discrimination as a fact of life with higher frequency of day-to-day discrimination while women tended to talk to someone with a higher frequency of day-to-day discrimination and lifetime discrimination. These findings suggest gender differences in behavior concerning discrimination.