The effect of Black-White income inequality on perceived interracial psychological outcomes via perceived interracial competition.

Abstract

This research examined the influence of Black-White income inequality on negative interracial psychological outcomes and the role of perceived interracial competition as a mediational mechanism. The research utilized three different designs across three preregistered experiments to assess the proposed processes. Study 1 (N = 846) used a measurement-of-mediation design and found that participants assigned to the high racial income gap condition reported more perceived interracial competition, discrimination, avoidance, and anxiety relative to those in the low racial income gap condition. Effects were mediated by increased perceptions of interracial competition. Studies 2a (n = 827) and 2b (n = 841) used an experimental-causal-chain design and replicated the effect of the racial income gap condition on increased perceptions of interracial competition (Study 2a) and showed that participants in the high perceived interracial competition condition-the manipulated mechanism-exhibited greater perceived discrimination, anxiety, and mistrust relative to those in the low perceived interracial competition condition (Study 2b). Study 3 (N = 1,583) diversified the sample by recruiting similar numbers of Black (n = 796) and White (n = 787) participants and used a moderation-of-process design by simultaneously manipulating the racial income gap and perceived interracial competition. Competition moderated effects: Inequality effects were stronger for those in the high competition condition. Implications for theory development are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).