Impact of online racism on psychological distress and alcohol use severity: Testing ethnic-racial socialization and silence about race as moderators

Abstract

Given the psychological deficits associated with online racism, we examined whether ethnic-racial socialization (cultural socialization, promotion of mistrust, and preparation for racial bias) and silence about race, would moderate the impact of online racism on psychological distress and alcohol use severity by conducting latent moderated structural equation modeling with data collected from 380 racial/ethnic minority young adults (Mage = 32.25, SD = 11.28). Online racism was significantly and positively related to distress and alcohol use severity. Promotion of mistrust and preparation for bias moderated the link between online-mediated exposure to racist reality and psychological distress such that this relationship was significant at low to mean levels of these messages but not at high levels; however, individuals reporting a high frequency of messages sustained higher psychological distress. Promotion of mistrust and silence about race exacerbated alcohol use associated with racism in personal online interactions. Silence about race moderated alcohol use associated with vicarious exposure to online racism such that the link was significant at high levels of silence messages but not at low to mean levels. Findings seem unconvincing of ethnic-racial socialization as a protective function and supportive of silence about race as a detrimental socialization practice in dealing with online racism.