Article

Psychology of Women Quarterly

1-15
Gendered Racism, Coping, Identity ª The Author(s) 2015
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Centrality, and African American College DOI: 10.1177/0361684315616113
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Women’s Psychological Distress

Dawn M. Szymanski1 and Jioni A. Lewis1

Abstract
In this study, we examined how engagement and disengagement strategies for coping with discrimination might explain how
gendered racism influences psychological distress among 212 African American women enrolled in an institution of higher
education. Engagement strategies were coping with discrimination using resistance and education/advocacy. Disengagement
coping strategies were detachment from the stressor, internalization/self-blame, and use of drugs and alcohol. In addition, we
examined the potential moderating or buffering role of gendered racial identity centrality (i.e., how important being an African
American woman is to one’s self-concept) in the links between gendered racism and psychological distress, and between
gendered racism and strategies for coping with discrimination. Results from our online survey revealed that both coping with
discrimination via detachment and internalization/self-blame uniquely mediated the gendered racism–psychological distress
links. In addition, findings from the moderation analyses indicated that the direct effect of gendered racism and detachment
coping and the conditional indirect effect of gendered racism on psychological distress were contingent on gendered racial
identity centrality; these relations were only significant among African American women with moderate to high levels of
identity centrality, suggesting that identity centrality does not play a buffering role. Our findings suggest the importance of
applying an intersectionality framework to explore the experiences of gendered racism and gendered racial identity centrality
in African American women’s lives. Our results also lead us to recommend future work that helps African American women
reduce the use of disengagement strategies to cope with discrimination.

Keywords
racism, discrimination, coping, identity centrality, psychological distress

Previous research indicates that perceived discrimination has
a cumulative negative effect on people of color (Pieterse,
Todd, Neville, & Carter, 2012; Utsey & Ponterotto, 1999)
and women across racial and ethnic backgrounds (Klonoff
& Landrine, 1995; Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). Using
the biopsychosocial model of racism (Clark, Anderson,
Clark, & Williams, 1999), many researchers have conceptua-
lized racism and other forms of oppression as stressors that
can negatively impact the mental and physical health of peo-
ple of color, particularly African Americans (Landrine &
Klonoff, 1996; Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009; Pieterse
et al., 2012). African American women experience unique
stressors related to intersecting forms of racial and gender
discrimination (Shorter-Gooden, 2004; Woods-Giscombé &
Lobel, 2008). These stressors contribute to the higher rates
of stress-related health issues and health disparities for Afri-
can American women compared to their White counterparts
(Woods-Giscombé & Lobel, 2008).
Researchers have highlighted the important role of coping
strategies in understanding the negative effects of racism and
other forms of oppression (Clark et al., 1999; Harrell, 2000).
In addition, researchers (e.g., Harrell, 2000) have argued that
sociocultural variables, such as racial and gender identity, can
affect the racism-related stress and coping process. Although
the separate experiences of racism and sexism are negatively
associated with African American women’s physical and
psychological well-being, there is still very little psychologi-
cal research that has explored the ways that both racism and
sexism intersect to influence the health of African American
women. In the current study, we sought to extend the research
literature on African American women’s experiences of dis-
crimination by examining how strategies for coping with dis-
crimination might explain how gendered racism influences
psychological distress among college women. We also
explored the potential moderating role of gendered racial
identity centrality (i.e., how important being an African
1
Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Corresponding Author:
Dawn M. Szymanski, Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Email: dawnszymanski@msn.com

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2 Psychology of Women Quarterly
American woman is to one’s self-concept; Leach et al., 2008)
in these associations.
Gendered Racism
Some researchers have conceptualized the intersections of
racism and sexism experienced by African American women
as gendered racism (Essed, 1991; Thomas, Witherspoon, &
Speight, 2008). Researchers have tried to empirically explore
African American women’s experiences with the intersection
of racism and sexism, or gendered racism, in a variety of
ways. Drawing on Black feminist scholarship, interdisciplin-
ary researchers have theorized an intersectionality framework
to study African American women’s experiences. According
to legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) who coined the
term intersectionality, African American women could expe-
rience: (a) similar experiences (single-axis approach), that is,
racism similar to African American men and sexism similar
to White women; (b) double jeopardy (additive approach)
or multiplicative effects (interactional approach), that is,
racism and sexism are separate yet accumulative experiences
of oppression; and (c) specific oppression (intersectional
approach) that is based on the intersection of race and gender.
In terms of the latter, scholars have also noted how these
intersectional experiences can differ for subgroups of women
of color (Buchanan, 2005; Cole, 2009; Thomas et al., 2008).
Much of the extant literature on African American
women’s experiences of oppression has been framed around
the single-axis or additive approach. For example, two stud-
ies (Moradi & Subich, 2003; Szymanski & Stewart, 2010)
found that greater sexist and racist discrimination were sig-
nificantly related to higher levels of psychological distress,
at the bivariate level, in a sample of African American
women. Both studies found that racist discrimination and the
interaction of racist and sexist discrimination did not signifi-
cantly predict psychological distress, but sexist discrimina-
tion did. Although these findings add to our understanding
of the additive and interactive effects of racist and sexist
experiences, this approach still measures the experiences of
racism and sexism separately. Such methods do not meaning-
fully capture the ways that the intersection of racism and sex-
ism, or gendered racism, uniquely affects psychological
distress among African American women.
More recently, psychology researchers have begun to the-
orize and conduct empirical research on the intersections of
race and gender (e.g., Cole, 2009; Thomas et al., 2008). The
majority of empirical studies focused on African American
women’s experiences with racism and sexism have found that
these intersecting forms of oppression are related to poor
mental health. In studies that mostly involved community
samples of African American women, greater experiences
of gendered racism have been related to higher levels of
psychological distress (King, 2003; Lewis & Neville, 2015;
Thomas et al., 2008), greater depressive symptoms (Carr,
Szymanski, Taha, West, & Kaslow, 2014), more post-
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traumatic stress symptoms (Woods, Buchanan, & Settles,
2009), and lower social self-esteem (King, 2003).
Focus on College Women
We extend the previous research by focusing on college
women, because they may be at risk of experiencing gen-
dered racism in their social and collegiate relations, in
the academic environment, and in the classroom (Lewis,
Mendenhall, Harwood, & Huntt, 2013; Watkins, LaBarrie,
& Appio, 2010). In addition, although African American col-
lege women typically have greater socioeconomic resources
than peers who do not attend college, research suggests that
higher socioeconomic status women are not immune to
the negative psychological effects of oppression (Jones &
Shorter-Gooden, 2003). Given their developmental level,
college-age women may also have less experience and prac-
tice in navigating discrimination and other life challenges,
which may influence their ability to limit or avoid exposure
to these negative stimuli and to use more mature coping
responses (Charles, 2010). The unique college context may
also influence how African American women react to gen-
dered racism by limiting (e.g., difficulty in changing majors
or professors) and/or facilitating (e.g., offering students
opportunities for collective responses to oppression) certain
coping responses.
Coping With Discrimination as Mediators
Given the long history of research on the links between cop-
ing styles and mental health outcomes in psychology, it is sur-
prising that very little research has focused on the relation
between discrimination and coping variables. Few research-
ers have examined the potential mediating functions that
coping may play in better understanding the link between
discrimination and mental health outcomes among individu-
als from marginalized groups (Pascoe & Smart Richman,
2009). There are several theoretical models and scholarly
assertions for why coping might partially mediate the dis-
crimination–mental health outcome links (cf. Clark et al.,
1999; Harrell, 2000; Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Szymanski &
Obiri, 2011). These theoretical tenets posit that (a) African
American women face increased stress due to stigma based
on the intersections of race and gender, (b) this stress creates
the need to implement coping strategies to deal with these
minority-based stressors, and (c) these coping responses par-
tially mediate or explain the link between gendered racism
and poorer mental health outcomes. Disengagement coping
strategies (e.g., passive, avoidant, and maladaptive coping)
are assumed to be related to more psychological distress, and
engagement coping strategies (e.g., proactive, problem sol-
ving, and adaptive coping) are assumed to be related to less
psychological distress.
Supporting these assertions, Utsey, Ponterotto, Reynolds,
and Cancelli (2000) found that race-related stress was
Szymanski and Lewis
associated with an increased use of problem solving, avoi-
dant, and support-seeking coping styles among African
Americans. Racial discrimination stress predicted the use
of Africultural, culturally specific coping (i.e., emotional
debriefing, communalistic coping, and spiritually centered
coping), after controlling for general coping styles, among
low-income African American adolescents (Gaylord-Harden
& Cunningham, 2009). In terms of mediation, a study target-
ing African American adolescents found that avoidant coping
strategies explained the relation between racial discrimina-
tion and depressive symptoms (Seaton, Upton, Gilbert, &
Volpe, 2014). Likewise, Szymanski and Obiri (2011) found
that experiences of racial discrimination were related to an
increased use of both positive and negative religious cop-
ing styles among an African American sample, but only
negative religious coping styles mediated the racism and
psychological distress link. Thomas et al. (2008) found
that culturally specific emotional debriefing (e.g., thinking
about other things and not thinking about the stressor) par-
tially mediated the relation between gendered racism and
psychological distress among African American women.
However, they found no mediational effects for communa-
listic, ritualistic, or spiritually centered Africultural coping
styles.
With a few exceptions (e.g., Lewis et al., 2013; Thomas
et al., 2008), most of the literature on coping among African
American women has focused on racism and sexism sepa-
rately; thus, our study advances the coping literature by pay-
ing attention to coping strategies used in response to the
unique, intersectional experiences of gendered racism.
Furthermore, most of the literature on coping with discrimi-
nation among African Americans has focused on general cop-
ing responses used for any potential stressful event, or
culturally specific coping styles. However, three studies
found that African American adults cope differently depend-
ing on whether the stressor is a general life stressor versus a
racial stressor (Brown, Phillips, Abdullah, Vinson, & Robert-
son, 2011; Hoggard, Byrd, & Sellers, 2012). Yet, very little
research has examined coping strategies unique to discrimi-
natory experiences (Miller & Kaiser, 2001). A notable excep-
tion is Wei, Alvarez, Ku, Russell, and Bonett’s (2010) study
that found that racial and ethnic minority persons frequently
use five strategies for coping with discrimination: detach-
ment, internalization, drugs and alcohol, resistance, and edu-
cation/advocacy. Wei et al. (2010) also found that coping
strategies, specific to discrimination, uniquely predicted
depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, after
controlling for general coping styles. These findings under-
score the need to examine discrimination-specific coping
strategies. Thus, we examined how disengagement coping
strategies (i.e., detachment, internalization, drugs and alco-
hol) and engagement coping strategies (i.e., resistance and
education/advocacy), employed to deal with discrimination,
might partially mediate the link between gendered racism and
psychological distress.
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3
Coping with gendered racism via detachment is the pro-
cess of disengaging from problem solving and distancing
oneself from social support (Wei et al., 2010). Lewis et al.
(2013) found that African American women reported using
detachment coping strategies to deal with subtle forms of
gendered racism, especially when the situation was outside
their control. Detachment may provide a means of social and
cognitive avoidance of these often unpredictable stressors
(Miller & Kaiser, 2001; Seaton et al., 2014). In addition,
detachment may protect African American women from fur-
ther assaults, rejection, and misunderstanding from others
about the race-related stressor (Miller & Kaiser, 2001). How-
ever, detachment may fuel psychological distress due to
decreases in emotional support from others, and feeling at a
loss for how to solve the problem.
Coping with gendered racism via internalization or self-
blame is the process by which a person attributes the cause
for the discriminatory events to herself (Wei et al., 2010).
Because many gendered racist experiences can be ambigu-
ous, it may leave an African American woman wondering
if the action was due to prejudice or other factors; thereby
increasing the likelihood that she blames herself for the event
(Miller & Kaiser, 2001). It may be that White persons discre-
dit the prejudiced experience, leaving an African American
woman to internalize the experience, rather than attribute it
to the perpetrator (Kaiser & Miller, 2001). Carr et al.
(2014) found that greater experiences of racial discrimination
and sexual objectification were related to greater coping with
discrimination via internalization, which in turn was related
to more depressive symptoms among a low-income clinical
sample of African American women. An African American
woman may also cope with gendered racism by using drugs
and/or alcohol to self-medicate, numb emotions, and decrease
feelings of anger and distress (at least in the short-term)
related to the discriminatory experience (Szymanski, Moffitt,
& Carr, 2011). In a longitudinal study, Gibbons et al. (2010)
found that racial discrimination among African American
parents and adolescents was linked to increased substance
use, and this link was mediated by feelings of anger and
hostility.
Resistance is the process of confronting the perpetrators of
a discriminatory behavior, while coping via education/advo-
cacy is the process of increasing self and other’s awareness of
discrimination and implementing advocacy efforts to fight
discrimination at micro- and macro-levels (Wei et al.,
2010). The college context is unique in that it often provides
diversity-related educational programming (courses and cam-
pus events), student groups aimed at increasing awareness of
sociocultural identities and experiences of oppression, and
opportunities for community engagement and social action.
Qualitative studies of community and college students have
found that African American women often use resistance and
education/advocacy strategies as a way to proactively cope
with gendered racism and avert its potentially negative
effects (Everett, Hall, & Hamilton-Mason, 2010; Lewis
4 Psychology of Women Quarterly
et al., 2013; Shorter-Gooden, 2004). These strategies may
help African American women (a) manage the anger associ-
ated with gendered racism, (b) counteract the devaluation
associated with gendered racism, (c) contextualize rather than
internalize oppression, (d) motivate perpetrators to change
their behavior, (e) motivate others to take action, and/or (f)
feel empowered that they can do something about gendered
racism (Brondolo, ver Halen, Pencille, Beatty, & Contrada,
2009; Szymanski, 2012).
In terms of resistance and education/advocacy, two studies
found that increased experiences of racism were related to
greater involvement in African American activism (Szy-
manski, 2012; Szymanski & Lewis, 2015). Other studies have
found that African American women who reported ‘‘doing
something about’’ discrimination had lower blood pressure
levels (Krieger & Sidney, 1996) and were less likely to have
a diagnosis of hypertension (Krieger, 1990) than those who
did nothing about it. Finally, Hyers (2007) found that women
who coped with racism or sexism via confrontation were more
likely to feel that they had been efficacious and were less likely
to engage in rumination than women who did not confront
their perpetrators. Given this small body of research, the need
to examine the various methods for coping with discrimination
in the gendered racism–distress links is warranted.
Identity Centrality as a Moderator in Predicting
Psychological Distress
African American women’s gendered racial identity central-
ity refers to the degree to which the intersection of one’s race
and gender form an important part of one’s self-concept
(Leach et al., 2008). Identity centrality is a key aspect of
larger theories on racial (Cross, 1991), feminist/womanist
(Brown, 1989; Downing & Roush, 1986; Ossana, Helms, &
Leonard, 1992), and social (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) identity.
It is considered to be stable across situations and contexts
(Sellers et al., 1998). A recent meta-analysis of African Amer-
icans found that greater levels of racial centrality and other
highly related constructs (e.g., Afrocentricity, private regard)
were related to lower levels of psychological distress (Lee &
Ahn, 2013). A review of gender identity research among ado-
lescents suggests that gender centrality also plays a role in pos-
itive psychosocial outcomes (Perry & Pauletti, 2011).
Gendered racial identity centrality can influence the
degree to which gendered racism is perceived as threaten-
ing to one’s individual self and collective self-concept; the-
ory suggests it is a protective factor when faced with
discrimination (Neblett, Rivas-Drake, & Umaña-Taylor,
2012; Sellers & Shelton, 2003; Sellers, Caldwell,
Schmeelk-Cone, & Zimmerman, 2003). Drawing attention
to one’s race and gender may serve to increase an African
American woman’s awareness that she may be targeted for
gendered racism and may help her garner the strength she
needs to protect herself from its harmful effects (Brondolo
et al., 2009). In a similar vein, high identity centrality often
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encompasses a more serious understanding and commit-
ment to African American women’s experiences and issues,
which may lead to blaming the perpetrators of gendered
racism, thereby lessening the potential negative influences
of discrimination on mental health (Cross & Vandiver,
2001). Furthermore, African American women with high
levels of identity centrality might be less likely to interna-
lize the negative messages about being an African Ameri-
can woman that are often conveyed through acts of
gendered racism; thereby protecting them from its negative
effects (Neblett et al., 2012). When faced with gendered
racism, African American women with high levels of iden-
tity centrality may be able to feel good about themselves by
focusing on the collective strength and positive aspects of
their group; thereby buffering themselves from negative
mental health consequences (Sellers & Shelton, 2003).
Meta-analytic studies of in-group identification reveal
mixed results, with some finding a buffering effect, others
finding no effect, and a smaller number finding an exacerbat-
ing effect on the link between discrimination and psychoso-
cial outcomes (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). For
example, Sellers et al. (2003) found that racial centrality buf-
fered the negative impact of racial discrimination on the psy-
chological distress of African American young adults.
Similarly, Seaton (2009) found that high racial identity cen-
trality, high public regard (i.e., beliefs that others think posi-
tively about African Americans), and high private regard
(i.e., positive feelings about African Americans and about
being an African American) buffered the negative effect of
racial discrimination on depressive symptoms among a sam-
ple of African American adolescents. Feminist identification
also has been shown to protect women against negative
effects of sexism on various mental health outcomes, includ-
ing psychological distress and disordered eating (for a
review, see Szymanski & Moffitt, 2012). Finally, DeBlaere
and Bertsch (2013) found that womanist identification, which
is inclusive of racial/ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation
identities, played a buffering role in the link between sexism
and psychological distress among African American sexual
minority women.
Contrary to the buffering effect hypothesis, Burrow and
Ong (2010) found that racial identity centrality exacerbated
the negative effects of racial discrimination on depression
and negative affect among African American doctoral
students and graduates of doctoral programs. McCoy and
Major (2003) found that lower gender centrality buffered the
sexist discrimination and psychological distress links among
women. Finally, Pascoe and Smart Richman (2009) in a
meta-analysis reported that the majority of studies found no
effect for in-group identification; however, these findings are
likely to be influenced by the notorious difficulty of detecting
interaction effects in nonexperimental studies, due to low
sample sizes and a lack of power needed to detect the small
effect sizes typically found in social science research
(McClelland & Judd, 1993).
Szymanski and Lewis
Moderator
Identity Centrality
Drug & Alcohol Use
Predictor
Gendered Racism
Figure 1. Hypothesized model predicting mental health outcome. Dashed line indicates conditional indirect effect.
The research on identity centrality is limited in under-
standing individuals with multiple minority identities, by its
focus on only one discrimination dimension, and a single
identity factor. The conflicting findings related to in-group
identification may be due, in part, to the use of measures that
do not adequately assess the discrimination experiences and
cultural identities of its participants (e.g., African American
women). For example, in a qualitative study of young adult
African American women, gendered racial identity had
greater salience in participants’ lives than did the separate
constructs of gender or racial identity (Thomas, Hacker, &
Hoxha, 2011). There is no previous research that focuses
on the intersections of race and gender in African American
women’s identity centrality, as well their potential interactive
role with gendered racism, in the links to mental health out-
comes. In addition, research has rarely focused on African
American female samples. This study advances existing liter-
ature by focusing on the intersectional nature of both discrim-
ination experiences and definitions of self-concept that are
important to African American women. Given that race-
based, gender-based, and social psychological theories on
in-group identification articulate a protective function of
identity centrality and that more studies in Pascoe and Smart
Richman’s (2009) review found support for a buffering,
rather than exacerbating, role in the discrimination and men-
tal health links, we hypothesized that gendered racial identity
centrality would play a protective role in the link between
gendered racism and African American women’s psychologi-
cal distress.
A Moderated Mediation Model
Gendered racial identity centrality may also influence the
implementation of coping strategies when faced with
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5
Multiple Coping
Mediators
Detachment
Internalization
Resistance Mental Health
Outcome
Education &
Advocacy
Psychological Distress
experiences of gendered racism (Brondolo et al., 2009; Sell-
ers et al., 2003; Sellers & Shelton, 2003). For example, Afri-
can American women with high levels of identity centrality
may have a stronger sense that they can respond effectively
to discrimination and have more adaptive, effective, and var-
ied coping responses when faced with high levels of gendered
racism, because they have more experience dealing with it
(Sellers et al., 2003). African American women with high
identity centrality may also be more likely to think about race
and gender discrimination and thereby may engage in coping
efforts aimed at actively dealing with the source of stress (i.e.,
gendered racism); they may be less likely to disengage from
the stressor when faced with gendered racism. Thus, identity
centrality should moderate the direct relations between gen-
dered racism and both disengagement and engagement cop-
ing strategies. In addition, a pattern of moderated mediation
(Hayes, 2013) is likely to be present. That is, identity central-
ity might also qualify the indirect relation between gendered
racism and psychological distress. However, there is a lack of
research targeting both in-group identification and coping
strategies; the theoretical assertions have not yet been empiri-
cally tested.
The Current Study
As illustrated in Figure 1, our hypothesized conceptual model
consists of examining potential coping mediators in the link
between gendered racism and psychological distress among
African American women. In addition, we examined the gen-
dered racial identity centrality as a moderator in the (a) gen-
dered racism and psychological distress link, (b) gendered
racism and coping links, and (c) indirect relation between
gendered racism and psychological distress. Our specific
hypotheses were:
6 Psychology of Women Quarterly
1. Disengagement and engagement strategies for coping
with discrimination will partially mediate the gen-
dered racism–psychological distress link. That is,
higher levels of gendered racism will be positively
related to the use of more coping via detachment,
internalization, and drugs and alcohol, which in turn
will be related to more psychological distress. In addi-
tion, higher levels of gendered racism will be posi-
tively related to more coping via resistance and
education/advocacy, which in turn will be related to
less psychological distress.
2. Identity centrality will moderate the relations between
gendered racism and psychological distress. The rela-
tion will be weaker when identity centrality is higher
and stronger than when identity centrality is lower.
3. Identity centrality will moderate the relations between
gendered racism and disengagement and engagement
coping. Specifically, for the three disengagement cop-
ing strategies (i.e., detachment, internalization, drugs
and alcohol), the association will be weaker when
identity centrality is higher and stronger when identity
centrality is lower. For the two engagement coping
strategies (i.e., resistance and education/advocacy),
the relation will be stronger when identity centrality
is higher and weaker when identity centrality is lower.
4. Identity centrality will moderate the indirect relations
between gendered racism and psychological distress.
The indirect relations via the three disengagement
coping strategies will be weaker when identity cen-
trality is higher and stronger when identity centrality
is lower. In addition, the indirect relation via the two
engagement coping strategies will be stronger when
identity centrality is higher and weaker when identity
centrality is lower.
Method
Participants
The initial sample comprised 250 participants who completed
an online survey. Eleven men, 1 Asian American, 13 non-
students, 7 participants who left at least one measure com-
pletely blank, and 6 participants who failed two or more of
the 3 validity check items (e.g., ‘‘For this item, click the but-
ton labeled red’’), were eliminated from the data set. The final
sample was 212 women and 98% self-identified as African
American/Black and 2% as biracial. Participants ranged in
age from 18 to 47 years (M ¼ 19.50, SD ¼ 3.87). All partici-
pants were currently enrolled as students in a higher educa-
tion institution, with 61% being first-year undergraduates,
20% sophomores, 10% juniors, 5% seniors, 3% graduate stu-
dents, and 1% other. Participants self-identified as being a
member of the following social class categories: 1% wealthy,
14% upper middle class, 47% middle class, 31% working
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class, and 7% poor. Participants resided in the South (74%),
Northeast (11%), Midwest (8%), and West (7%).
Procedure
Participants were recruited through a department of psychol-
ogy’s human research pool at a large Southeastern predomi-
nantly White public university and through an e-mail
announcement of the study that was sent to the listserv
owner/contact person of a variety of university/college multi-
cultural or African American/Black student centers, African
American student/faculty groups, and African American
Studies programs. The e-mail asked recipients to forward our
recruitment e-mail to their list serves. The e-mail announce-
ment was sent to individuals on the website listed as either
‘‘contact person’’ or ‘‘listserv owner.’’
Participants completed an online web-based survey
located on a secure firewall protected server accessed via a
hypertext link. After participants read the informed consent,
they indicated consent to take the survey by clicking a button,
which directed them to the next page containing the survey.
The survey included a demographic questionnaire and the
aforementioned measures, which were randomly ordered.
As an incentive, participants were told they were eligible to
enter a participant raffle awarding gift certificates to an
online merchant. In addition, eligible participants could
receive course credit for their undergraduate course. We used
a separate raffle/course credit database so that there was no
way to connect a person’s online course credit submission
with her submitted survey.
Measures
Gendered racism. We used Buchanan’s (2005) Racialized
Sexual Harassment Scale to assess gendered racism. This
scale consists of 7 items assessing experiences of oppressive
behaviors that focus simultaneously on one’s race and gen-
der. Participants were asked to indicate how often during the
past year they experienced a variety of these events. Example
items include, ‘‘Said things to insult people of your gender
and ethnicity’’ (e.g., ‘‘Black women are rude,’’ ‘‘Asian men
are wimpy,’’ ‘‘Latino men are violent,’’ ‘‘White women are
dumb,’’ etc.) and ‘‘Made comments about your body that
emphasized your gender and ethnicity’’ (e.g., for Black
women, comments about one’s ‘‘Black ass,’’ for White
women, ‘‘skinny white bitch,’’ etc.). Each item is rated on a
5-point Likert-type scale from 0 (never) to 4 (very often).
Mean scores were used, with higher scores indicating greater
experiences of gendered racism. Internal reliability (.86) as
well as content, structural (via exploratory factor analyses),
and construct validity were demonstrated by Buchanan
(2005) and Woods, Buchanan, and Settles (2009). The Cron-
bach’s a for the current sample was .89.
Coping with discrimination. We used Wei et al.’s (2010)
Coping with Discrimination Scale (CDS) to assess
Szymanski and Lewis
disengagement and engagement coping strategies. The CDS
includes five subscales: detachment, internalization, drug and
alcohol use, resistance, and education/advocacy. Each sub-
scale includes 5 items representing specific coping strategies
that may be used to deal with discrimination. Example items
include, ‘‘I do not talk with others about my feelings’’
(detachment), ‘‘I believe I may have triggered the incident’’
(internalization), ‘‘I use drugs or alcohol to numb my feel-
ings’’ (drug and alcohol use), ‘‘I directly challenge the person
who offended me’’ (resistance), and ‘‘I try to educate people
so that they are aware of discrimination’’ (education/advo-
cacy). Respondents were instructed to rate each item to the
degree to which they personally cope with discrimination
on a 6-point Likert-type scale from 1 (never like me) to 6
(always like me). Mean scores were used, with higher scores
indicating a greater use of that coping method.
Wei et al. (2010) demonstrated support for internal reli-
abilities (range ¼ .72–.90); 2-week test–retest reliabilities
(range ¼ .48–.85); as well as content, structural (via both
exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses), and construct
validity. The Cronbach’s a coefficients on the CDS subscales
for the current sample were .72 for detachment, .83 for inter-
nalization, .70 for drug and alcohol use, .71 for resistance,
and .87 for education/advocacy.
Identity centrality. Gendered racial identity centrality was
assessed using the centrality subscale of the In-Group Identi-
fication Scale (Leach et al., 2008), which included 3 items.
Items were modified to ask participants to respond based
on their identity as an African American woman. A sample
item included, ‘‘The fact that I am an African American
woman is an important part of my identity.’’ Participants
were asked to rate how much they agree with each item on
a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree)
to 7 (strongly agree). The entire In-Group Identification
Scale (14 items) was administered to ensure the integrity of
the measure; however, only the 3 items of the centrality sub-
scale were used in the analyses. Mean scores were calculated
with higher scores indicating higher levels of identity central-
ity. Leach et al. (2008) reported evidence for internal reliabil-
ity of the centrality subscale scores (range ¼ .80–.87),
structural validity (via confirmatory factor analyses across
two samples), and construct validity. The Cronbach’s a for
the current sample was .76.
Psychological distress. Psychological distress was assessed
using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-21 (Green, Walkey,
McCormick, & Taylor, 1988). This 21-item self-report mea-
sure assesses psychological distress along three dimensions:
general feelings of distress, somatic distress, and perfor-
mance difficulty. Participants indicated how often they have
felt each symptom during the past several days using a
4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4
(extremely). Example items include ‘‘Your mind going
blank’’ and ‘‘Feeling blue.’’ Mean scale scores were calcu-
lated, with higher scores indicating greater levels of
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7
psychological distress. Internal reliability (.89 for adult ther-
apy clients and .90 for undergraduates) and structural (via
exploratory factor analyses) and construct validity were
demonstrated (Deane, Leathem, & Spicer, 1992; Green
et al., 1988). The Cronbach’s a for the current sample was .90.
Results
Preliminary Analyses and Descriptive Data
Analysis of missing data patterns for the 212 participants in
our final sample indicated that .43%, or less than a half of
a percentage of all items for all participants/cases were miss-
ing, and 41% of the items were not missing data for any
participant/case. Considering individual cases, 82% of parti-
cipants had no missing data. Finally, no item had 2% or more
of missing values. Given the very small amount of missing
data, we used available case analyses procedures, wherein
mean scale scores are calculated without substitution or
imputation of values, which produces similar results to mul-
tiple imputation methods (Parent, 2013).
Data met guidelines for univariate normality (i.e., skew-
ness < 3, kurtosis < 10; Weston & Gore, 2006). Preliminary
correlational analyses between the demographic variables
of age, self-reported socioeconomic status, and geographic
region (South vs. Other) and the variables in our study
revealed a few significant (p < .05) associations. More specif-
ically, older age was related to greater identity centrality (r ¼
.18) and more coping with discrimination via education/
advocacy (r ¼ .17). Higher self-reported socioeconomic sta-
tus was related to less coping with discrimination via detach-
ment (r ¼ .16) and lower psychological distress levels (r ¼
.20). However, we did not include these variables as covari-
ates in the subsequent analyses reported below because the
utility of controlling for demographic variables in multiple
regression analyses has been questioned by scholars. Because
variables such as self-reported socioeconomic status are ordi-
nal variables, they are often not normally distributed and can
behave poorly as covariates. In addition, from a theoretical
standpoint, problems occur when a demographic variable
shares meaningful variance with another variable of theoreti-
cal interest (Little, An, Johanns, & Giordani, 2000; Miller &
Chapman, 2001; Thompson, 1992). Furthermore, analyses
including them as covariates did not change the findings in
any meaningful way (i.e., significance levels and the direc-
tions of the relations/beta weights were similar for analyses
using covariates vs. not using them).
Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations among
all study variables are shown in Table 1. At the bivariate
level, gendered racism was significantly and positively
related to coping with discrimination via detachment,
internalization, resistance, and education/advocacy but not
with coping with discrimination via drugs and alcohol.
Gendered racism was not related to identity centrality.
Gendered racism and disengagement coping (detachment
8 Psychology of Women Quarterly

Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations for All Study Variables.

Variable Possible range M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Gendered racism 0–4 1.92 1.06 —

2. Coping via detachment 1–6 2.36 0.86 .17* —
3. Coping via internalization 1–6 2.55 1.14 .17* .29* —
4. Coping via drugs and alcohol 1–6 1.65 0.93 .02 .09 .07 —
5. Coping via resistance 1–6 2.53 0.99 .22* .02 .09 .39* —
6. Coping via education/advocacy 1–6 3.24 1.33 .32* .04 .12 .10 .25* —
7. Identity centrality 1–7 5.89 1.21 .13 .01 .11 .08 .11 .34* —
8. Psychological distress 1–4 1.82 0.52 .31* .40* .29* .03 .08 .12 .11
*p < .05.

and internalization) yielded significant positive relations
with psychological distress, but identity centrality and
coping using drugs and alcohol and engagement coping
(resistance and education/advocacy) did not. Examination
of multicollinearity indexes for all analyses indicated that
multicollinearity was not a problem (i.e., absolute value
correlations < .90, variance inflation factors < 10; toler-
ance values > .20 and condition indexes < 30; Field,
2013; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001).
Mediation Analyses
We used the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013; Model 4)
to test the mediation model described in Hypothesis 1. Cur-
rent recommendations for testing indirect effects, which do
not require both the component paths of the indirect effect
to be statistically significant, were followed (Mallinckrodt,
Abraham, Wei, & Russell, 2006). We used bootstrapping
analyses with 1,000 bootstrapping resamples to produce
95% confidence intervals for the indirect effect, because it
does not assume normality in the distribution of the mediated
effect and can be applied with confidence to smaller samples
(cf. Mallinckrodt et al., 2006; Preacher & Hayes, 2008). If the
confidence interval does not contain zero, one can conclude
that mediation is significant and meaningful (Preacher &
Hayes, 2008).
The results of our mediation model are shown in Figure 2.
The test of mediation using bootstrapping analyses revealed
that both coping via detachment (mean indirect [unstandar-
dized] effect ¼ .03; SE ¼ .01, 95% CI [.005, .050], b ¼
.05) and internalization (mean indirect [unstandardized]
effect ¼ .01; SE ¼ .01, 95% CI [.001, .033], b ¼ .02)
mediated the gendered racism–psychological distress links.
Contrary to our hypothesis, no mediated effects were found
for coping using drugs and alcohol (mean indirect [unstandar-
dized] effect ¼ .00; SE ¼ .00, 95% CI [.006, .0.005], b ¼
.00), resistance (mean indirect [unstandardized] effect ¼
.00; SE ¼ .01, 95% CI [.016, .020], b ¼ .00), and educa-
tion/advocacy (mean indirect [unstandardized] effect ¼ .00;
SE ¼ .01, 95% CI [.019, .022], b ¼ .00). Finally, the vari-
ables in the model accounted for 25% of the variance in psy-
chological distress scores.
Moderator and Moderated Mediation Analyses
To test Hypotheses 2–4, we again used PROCESS (Hayes,
2013; Model 8). Results of these moderated analyses are
shown in Table 2. Contrary to Hypothesis 2, results indicated
that identity centrality did not moderate the gendered racism–
psychological distress link. Consistent with Hypothesis 3,
results indicated that identity centrality (b ¼ .16, R2 change
¼ .025, significant F change ¼ .02) moderated the relations
between gendered racism and detachment coping. Follow-
up simple slopes analysis revealed that gendered racism did
not predict coping via detachment for women with low (SD
¼ 1) identity centrality, B ¼ .04, t ¼ .401, p ¼ .69;
whereas gendered racism predicted psychological distress for
women with high (SD ¼ þ1) identity centrality, B ¼ .26, t ¼
3.422, p ¼ .001, and at the mean, B ¼ .12, t ¼ 2.09, p ¼ .04
(see Figure 3). Contrary to Hypothesis 3, identity centrality
did not moderate the links between gendered racism and cop-
ing, using internalization, drugs and alcohol, resistance, and
education/advocacy. Because a significant interaction
between the predictor (gendered racism) and the moderator
(identity centrality) on the mediator outcome variable is
needed to establish moderated mediation (Hayes, 2013), there
was no support for the associated conditional indirect effects
of gendered racism on psychological distress through coping
via internalization, drugs and alcohol, resistance, and educa-
tion/advocacy as proposed in Hypothesis 4.
However, supporting Hypothesis 4, results using 1,000
bootstrap samples for the moderated mediation analyses
revealed that the indirect effect of gendered racism on psycho-
logical distress through detachment coping was moderated by
identity centrality (Index of Moderation Mediation ¼ .025, SE
[boot] ¼ .013, 95% CI [.002, .052]). The indirect path was not
significant when identity centrality was low (SD ¼ 1; B ¼
.01; boot estimate ¼ .022; 95% CI [.054, .037]) but was
significant when identity centrality was high (SD ¼ þ1; B ¼
.05; boot estimate ¼ .015; 95% CI [.026, .084]) or at the mean
(B ¼ .02; boot estimate ¼ .012; 95% CI [.002, .048]).
Discussion
Our study extends previous research by using an intersec-
tional framework to examine the potential mediating roles

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Szymanski and Lewis
.17*
.17*
-.02
Gendered Racism
.22*
.32*
Education/Advocacy
Figure 2. Path model of direct and indirect relations of variables of interest predicting psychological distress. Values reflect standardized
coefficients. *p < .05.
of disengagement and engagement coping strategies used
when faced with discriminatory experiences, in the link
between gendered racism and psychological distress. In addi-
tion, we explored whether gendered racial identity centrality
moderated the relations between gendered racism and coping
strategies and psychological distress. Our first research
hypothesis was partially supported. Only two specific disen-
gagement coping strategies (detachment and internalization)
uniquely mediated the gendered racism–psychological dis-
tress link. That is, greater experiences of gendered racism
were related to higher levels of coping by withdrawing from
others and from the discriminatory event, and by blaming
oneself, which in turn were related to greater psychological
distress. These findings support theoretical (e.g., Hatzen-
buehler, 2009) mediation models that emphasize the impor-
tance of incorporating general psychological processes in
understanding the oppression–distress links among margina-
lized groups. In addition, these findings are similar to previ-
ous research (e.g., Thomas et al., 2008), which found that
cognitive–emotional debriefing (an avoidant coping style)
significantly mediated the relations between gendered racism
and psychological distress for African American women.
Thus, African American women might utilize more disen-
gagement coping strategies to manage the negative psycholo-
gical effects of gendered racism. Unfortunately, this strategy
might lead to a decrease in emotional support and an interna-
lization of gendered racism with subsequent exacerbation
(rather than an alleviation) of psychological distress.
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9
Coping Via
Detachment
.32*
Coping Via
Internalization
.16*
Coping Via Drugs -.01
and Alcohol
Psychological Distress
.23*
Coping Via
Resistance .01
Coping Via
.01
It is also important to be mindful of the reasons that many
African American women might utilize disengagement cop-
ing strategies, such as issues of power and contextual aspects
of the situation. For example, Lewis et al. (2013) found that
African American women used varied coping strategies in
response to gendered racial microaggressions that were
dependent on the power and agency women felt they had in
the situation. Specifically, if the perpetrator was a boss,
supervisor, or professor, women reported using more disen-
gagement (desensitization/detachment) coping strategies.
The researchers conceptualized these coping strategies as
self-protective, because women made deliberate and strategic
decisions about how best to cope with the situation, given the
power differentials between themselves and the perpetrator,
the resources available to them, and the context of the situa-
tion. The issue of power might be particularly salient for the
participants in our study because these women were all col-
lege women. Thus, if a young woman experienced gendered
racism from her professor or academic advisor, she might
deliberately choose to use disengagement strategies due to
the power differential and her inability to control the outcome
of the situation.
The finding that gendered racism was not related to coping
via drugs and alcohol and did not mediate the gendered
racism and psychological distress link was unexpected.
Although previous research has linked racial discrimination
to increased substance use among African American samples
(e.g., Gibbons et al., 2010; Landrine, Klonoff, Corral,
10 Psychology of Women Quarterly

Table 2. Test of Identity Centrality as a Moderator of the Predictor–Mediator and Predictor–Criterion Links.

Predictor Variable Criterion Variable B b t R2 F df

Criterion: detachment
Gendered racism .12 .14 2.09* .05 3.91* 3, 208
Identity centrality .00 .00 0.02
Gendered Racism  Identity Centrality .13 .16 2.33*
Criterion: internalization
Gendered racism .19 .18 2.58* .05 3.46* 3, 208
Identity centrality .08 .08 1.18
Gendered Racism  Identity Centrality .11 .10 1.46
Criterion: drugs and alcohol
Gendered racism .01 .11 0.23 .01 .49 3, 208
Identity centrality .06 .07 1.06
Gendered Racism  Identity Centrality .02 .03 0.39
Criterion: resistance
Gendered racism .20 .22 3.13* .06 4.26* 3, 208
Identity centrality .07 .09 1.27
Gendered Racism  Identity Centrality .01 .01 .16
Criterion: education/advocacy
Gendered racism .34 .27 4.21* .20 17.65* 3, 208
Identity centrality .35 .32 5.03*
Gendered Racism  Identity Centrality .11 .09 1.42
Criterion: psychological distress
Gendered racism .11 .23 3.47* .25 8.46 8, 203
Detachment .19 .32 4.92*
Internalization .07 .15 2.24*
Drugs and alcohol .00 .01 .07
Resistance .00 .00 .02
Education/advocacy .00 .08 .12
Identity centrality .03 .06 .93
Gendered Racism  Identity Centrality .02 .04 .57
Note. b and t reflects values from the final regression equation. df ¼ degrees of freedom.
*p < .05.

Fernandez, & Roesch, 2006), research on racial differences in
drug and alcohol abuse has found that African Americans and
all groups of women report lower levels of both drug and
alcohol dependence/abuse than their White and male counter-
parts (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
2014). Consistent with these latter findings, coping with dis-
crimination via drugs and alcohol in our sample had the low-
est mean (M ¼ 1.65; range 1–6), compared with the other
coping strategies. Thus, it is possible that we did not find a
significant relation between gendered racism and coping with
discrimination via drugs and alcohol in the current study,
because the African American women in our sample underu-
tilized drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with stress in gen-
eral and discrimination in particular.
Our study found no support for the mediating role of
engagement coping (i.e., resistance and education/advo-
cacy) in the gendered racism and psychological distress
link. Although contrary to our hypothesis, our findings are
consistent with other studies that have found no support for
the mediating roles of culturally specific (Thomas et al.,
2008) and religious (Szymanski & Obiri, 2011) engagement
coping styles in the racism–psychological distress link
among African Americans. It may be that engagement cop-
ing strategies related to resistance and education/advocacy
produce both benefits (e.g., reducing gendered racism,
changing a perpetrator’s behavior and beliefs) and costs
(e.g., increasing interpersonal conflict, being confronted
with a lack of institutional support for formal complaints,
futility associated with trying to modify experiences that are
often uncontrollable and chronic; Hyers, 2007; Noh, Beiser,
Kasper, Hou, & Rummens, 1999). Consequences may can-
cel each other out to produce very little influence on psycho-
logical distress. Conceptually, it also makes sense that
disengagement coping strategies might be a stronger media-
tor in the gendered racism–distress links, because the focus
is on measuring negative mental health rather than positive
psychosocial outcomes. More avoidant or maladaptive cop-
ing might be more predictive of psychological distress. It
may be that engagement coping strategies might be impor-
tant in explaining the relations between gendered racism and
feelings of self-fulfillment, empowerment, self-efficacy,
personal mastery and control, meaning making, social sup-
port, community engagement, academic success, and life
satisfaction.

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Szymanski and Lewis
Figure 3. Interaction of gendered racism and identity centrality on
coping with discrimination via detachment.
Partially supporting our hypotheses, results of the modera-
tion analyses indicated that the direct effect of gendered
racism and detachment coping, and the conditional indirect
effect of gendered racism on psychological distress, were
contingent on gendered racial identity centrality. These rela-
tions were only significant among African American women
with moderate to high levels of gendered racial identity cen-
trality; thus, high identity centrality does not appear to serve
as a buffer in the gendered racism–distress links. It may be
that individuals who place a high degree of significance on
their identity as African American women may detach from
others and from the stressor when they experience frequent
gendered racism to manage feelings of distress, anger,
exhaustion, and conflict with others associated with the event
(Brondolo et al., 2009). This finding is supported by previous
research (e.g., Thomas et al., 2008) that has also highlighted
the influence of gendered racial socialization for African
American women in their utilization of detachment, minimi-
zation, and avoidant coping strategies. Specifically, African
American women are often socialized to be strong, resilient,
and self-sufficient in the face of adversity due to the stereo-
types of the strong Black woman (Lewis & Neville, 2015;
Thomas et al., 2008; Woods-Giscombé, 2010; Woods-Gis-
combé & Black, 2010). African American women who have
higher levels of gendered racial identity centrality might also
be more likely to internalize this strong Black woman/super-
woman schema, which in turn may lead African American
women to assume that they have to deal with stressors on
their own, and they may become desensitized to gendered
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11
racial stressors, as a self-protective coping strategy (Lewis
et al., 2013).
Another way to interpret these findings is that for African
American women with low gendered racial identity central-
ity, there is not a significant association between the fre-
quency of their experiences with gendered racism and the
coping strategies that they use. However, African American
women with high gendered racial identity centrality may vary
coping strategies as a function of the frequency of their
experiences with gendered racism. Thus, when these women
experience less gendered racism, they may use less detach-
ment coping, and as they experience increased gendered
racism, they may utilize greater detachment coping. This
means that African American women with high gendered
racial identity centrality might be more likely to perceive the
gendered racism they experience as stressful, which triggers
the enactment of the transactional stress and coping response
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). African American women with
low gendered racial identity centrality might be less likely to
perceive gendered racism as a stressor at all because they are
less aware of these gendered racial stressors in their daily
lives. Finally, our findings that gendered racial identity cen-
trality did not moderate the gendered racism and psychologi-
cal distress link, nor the links to other coping strategies
assessed in the current study, are consistent with other
research assessing racial discrimination among African
American youth (Seaton, Neblett, Upton, Powell Hammond,
& Sellers, 2011; Seaton et al., 2014).
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
The dearth of intersectional measures for use with African
American women is one significant limitation in the extant
research literature generally and in our study specifically.
Although the Racialized Sexual Harassment Scale (Bucha-
nan, 2005) performed well in our study, this scale was not
developed specifically for use with African American women
to assess gendered racism. Future studies should use a gen-
dered racism measure, such as the newly developed Gendered
Racial Microaggressions Scale (Lewis & Neville, 2015), to
more adequately assess the intersections of racism and sex-
ism. In addition, using an African American women’s iden-
tity scale, rather than the more general identity centrality
scale, might have better captured the intersections of gen-
dered racial identity. Last, although the use of a coping-
specific measure, such as the CDS (Wei et al., 2010), was
useful in this study, this scale was not designed to capture the
intersecting experiences of racism and sexism that African
American women experience. Thus, there might be some
coping strategies specific to African American women that
were not captured in the scale we used. For example, previous
qualitative work with African American women (e.g., Everett
et al., 2010; Lewis et al., 2013; Shorter-Gooden, 2004) has
found that relying on social support is a very important form
of coping for African American women, but this was not
12
measured in the CDS. In addition, there might be more
nuanced coping strategies in response to gendered racism that
have not been uncovered in the extant literature.
Another limitation of our study was the cross-sectional
study design, which precludes inferences about causality.
For example, although we found that gendered racism pre-
dicted detachment coping, which then predicted psycholo-
gical distress for African American women with high
identity centrality, but not for women with low identity cen-
trality, we do not know the exact nature and direction of
these findings. It is possible that greater psychological dis-
tress predicts detachment coping, which in turn predicts
greater self-reported experiences of gendered racism. In
addition, although it could be interpreted that low identity
centrality serves a buffering function in the gendered
racism–distress links, this conclusion seems to miss the fun-
damental way that identity centrality works. Namely, lower
identity centrality might prevent individuals from detecting
and self-reporting gendered racism when they experience it,
but it does not mean that these experiences might not nega-
tively impact psychological well-being on an unconscious
level. Future research should use longitudinal designs to
better understand the direction of the interrelations among
these variables.
The focus on African American women college students
might also reduce the generalizability of the findings. In addi-
tion, our sample had a limited age range of participants since
the majority were first-year undergraduate students. Thus,
from a developmental perspective, there may be a limited
range of women at various stages of gendered racial identity
represented in this sample, which could affect the scores on
the identity centrality scale. A community sample might pro-
vide a greater diversity of African American women in terms
of age, socioeconomic status, level of education, and other
demographic factors, which would provide greater variability
in the potential gendered racial experiences of the sample.
Future research should move beyond convenience samples
of college students to be able to generalize to the greater
range of African American women’s experiences.
Practice Implications
Our study has implications for college clinical and counseling
psychologists as well as other mental health providers. It is
important for practitioners to increase their awareness about
the unique types of gendered racism that African American
women experience and how it can manifest both inside the
college context (e.g., in the learning environment; in relations
with university faculty, administrators, staff, and other stu-
dents) and outside in the community. In terms of specific
interventions, practitioners might lessen the potential impact
that gendered racism has on African American women’s psy-
chological distress, by using therapeutic strategies designed
to provide validation, support, and empathy for their experi-
ences. Clinicians might increase clients’ awareness of their
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Psychology of Women Quarterly
coping mechanisms and help them select methods of coping
that will decrease, rather than increase, symptoms. For exam-
ple, clinicians might help an African American female client
reframe the cause of a gendered racist event to the perpetrator,
rather than to herself, in order to decrease her internalization/
self-blame; they might explore whether the internalization of
the strong Black woman stereotype is contributing to the utili-
zation of detachment coping strategies. Given the complexities
of reaching out to support networks to decrease detachment
coping, clinicians might engage clients in an exploration and
discussion of potential pros and cons associated with reach-
ing out to different groups. Therapists should be mindful
that some women might feel less inclined to reach out to
support networks, so as not to expose friends or family
members to the vicarious trauma that could come from hear-
ing these stories of racism and sexism. In addition, reaching
out to support networks that do not share similar experiences
of oppression (e.g., White persons) could be met with inva-
lidation, rather than with understanding and affirmation.
Practitioners might also explore with clients whether their
detachment is a long-term coping response or a temporary
one, used to emotionally recoup before engaging in strategic
problem-solving efforts.
Another effective culturally specific intervention is the use
of ‘‘sister circles’’ or Black women therapy groups. Previous
research has found that Black women support groups can be
very helpful in providing a safe space for African American
women to gain support from other Black women who might
also experience gendered racism, particularly in predomi-
nantly White environments, such as college and university
settings (see Neal-Barnett et al., 2011). Finally, practitioners
should try to assess their clients’ racial and gender identities
to determine how central and salient their identity is to their
lives. This can help clinicians determine how best to help
their clients develop coping strategies to combat gendered
racism. For example, an African American female client
whose race and gender are less salient to them might need
help increasing her overall awareness of her gendered racial
identity. She might be experiencing gendered racism, but
be unaware that these experiences are contributing to her dis-
tress; whereas an African American woman with high gen-
dered racial centrality might need her therapist to validate
her experiences with gendered racism and support her to ward
off detachment that might lead to greater psychological dis-
tress. Our findings suggest the importance of applying an
intersectionality framework to explore the experiences of
gendered racism and gendered racial identity centrality in
African American women’s lives. Our results also lead us
to recommend future work that helps African American
women reduce the use of disengagement strategies to cope
with discrimination.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Szymanski and Lewis
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author-
ship, and/or publication of this article.
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