Internalized Racism Research Articles (Page 1)

We used meta-analytic structural equation modeling to test the internalized racism framework, which posits that internalized racism (IR) is associated with poor health directly and indirectly via stress processes and engagement in health-compromising behaviors. We synthesized correlation effects from 149 studies (141 reports, 38,650 participants, 1982-2024). IR was significantly (p < .05) positively associated with (a) psychological stress (k = 64, r = .18), (b) biophysiological stress (k = 18, r = .10), (c) engagement in health-compromising behaviors (k = 52, r = .16), (d) negative mental health (k = 330, r = .23), and (e) negative physical health (k = 31, r = .09) and significantly negatively associated with (f) positive mental health (k = 50, r = -.19) and (g) positive physical health (k = 14, r = -.08). IR was not associated with (h) overall health (k = 5, r = -.06). After adjusting for covariates (gender, age, ethnoracial group, publication year, peer-review status, and form and evaluative focus of IR), only the associations between IR with psychological stress and with negative mental health remained significant. The association between IR and negative mental health was partially explained by health-compromising behaviors, but not by psychological stress. There was mixed evidence of publication bias, and study quality only moderated the association between IR and positive mental health. Findings support an expanded internalized racism framework, the IR-stress-vulnerability model, which highlights bidirectional relationships among IR, stress, health-compromising behaviors, and health, with implications for addressing IR among minoritized ethnoracial groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Asian Americans (AAs) are a diverse group who come from many different cultures, backgrounds, immigration histories, geographic regions, and experiences. Unfortunately, AAs are commonly stereotyped as a model minority, used as an intermediary minority, and consequently have been marginalized and left out of dialogues of racism and discrimination. Internalized racism (IR), defined as the internalization of bias and oppression toward one's group, is an especially insidious form of divisive racism that remains largely misunderstood and unaddressed in AAs. In addition to devaluing oneself, IR creates division in communities and reinforces systems of oppression. This paper reviews the extant literature on IR among AAs and discusses the importance of addressing this deleterious issue and its consequences on individual, family, and community mental health. Moreover, I discuss and elucidate how stereotypes about AAs (e.g., model minority, perpetual foreigner, gendered stereotypes, and conceptions of beauty) directly promote and reinforce different types of internalized oppression (e.g., intraracial hierarchies, intraethnic othering, gendered emasculation, and hypersexualization, colorism and Western standards of beauty). Clinical and community recommendations are provided through a multilevel preventive intervention framework. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The study examined the relationships between social anxiety (SA), generalized anxiety (GA), and depression with racial microaggressions and internalized racism (IR) among Black young adults. Given SA's core features, we expected it to have a unique association with IR, and to moderate the connection between racial microaggressions and IR. Participants were 182 Black university students who completed measures of SA, GA, depressive symptoms, racial microaggressions, and IR. Linear regression models indicated that IR was a significant predictor of SA, but not GA or depression. Racial microaggressions were only positively associated with depressive symptoms. SA and racial microaggressions each predicted IR, but no interaction was found. Black young adults with elevated concerns of others' evaluation may be more prone to accepting negative stereotypes about one's racial group.

Internalized racism (IR) is a form of racism that leads people to internalize stereotypes about their racial/ethnic group (i.e., group-focused IR) and/or about themselves because of their racial/ethnic group membership (i.e., self-focused IR). However, although IR is associated with poor mental health, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of these associations. To address this limitation, this research investigates the core self-evaluation (CSE; a person’s fundamental evaluations about themselves, their own abilities, and their own control) mediated pathway as one potential pathway. CSE consists of four traits: self-esteem (SE), locus of control (LoC), emotional stability (ES), and generalized self-efficacy (GSE). With a sample of 780 Black/African American adults ( Mage = 37.68 years, % Female = 57.6), this study investigated the independent direct and indirect effects of group- and self-focused IR on depression and anxiety symptoms via CSE using structural equation modeling. Confirming predictions, self- and group-focused IR predicted greater anxiety and depression symptoms and lower SE and ES. However, against predictions, both forms of IR were associated with increased internal LoC and were not associated with GSE. Last, results show partial support for the CSE mediated pathway, such that SE and ES (but not LoC or GSE) mediated the relationship between both self- and group-focused IR and anxiety and depression symptoms. Results suggest that IR is indirectly related to mental health via the more affective (SE, ES) relative to motivational (LoC, GSE) components of CSE, which has implications for understanding underlying mechanisms associating IR with poor mental health among racial/ethnic minorities.

Internalized racism (IR) is a form of racism that leads people to internalize beliefs and stereotypes about their racial/ethnic (RE) group and/or about themselves because of their RE group membership. However, relative to other forms of racism research investigating the relationship IR and health is lacking. Thus, in an attempt to promote research on IR, this paper reviews and summarizes 112 empirical quantitative studies-representing nearly three decades of research published between January 1990 to December 2018-that examine the health and health-related correlates of IR among racial/ethnic minorities. Collectively, evidence from this review suggests that (1) IR is negatively associated with health via decrements in positive core self-evaluation; (2) IR exacerbates the relationship between other stressors and ill health; (3) IR mediates the relationship between discrimination and health; and (4) IR is a self-protective strategy that protects against ill health. Using the accumulated evidence, this review presents new conceptualizations of IR, along with specific recommendations on how to improve the scientific study of IR among racial/ethnic minorities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of internalized racism. This concept has a plethora of effects on the Black community and other communities of color. Despite this, internalized racism is misunderstood and understudied due to difficulty in understanding the subject matter. As a college student, the author discusses the influence of internalized racism on Black college students’ mental health and academic achievements. As a result, the author details the extensive psychological and emotional effects of internalized racism on Black students at the college level. Also, potential solutions like the implementation of SAFE-CO is provided as means to oppose internalized racism.

Education and internalized racism in socio-political context: Zimbabwe and Swaziland