The moderating role of online racism in the relationship between lived racism, racial trauma symptoms, and well-being

Abstract

The relationship between lived experiences with racism, racial trauma symptoms, and well-being has been observed among Black individuals. Lived experiences with racism are related to negative racial trauma symptoms and a lower sense of well-being (Pieterse et al., 2012). Although online racism occurs frequently and explicitly on digital and social media platforms (Keum & Miller, 2017), there is little to no research available on its psychological impact on Black adults. The current study employed the Race-Based Traumatic Stress Model to understand how online racism affects the relationship between lived experiences with racism, racial trauma symptoms, and well-being. Participants were invited to participate in a Qualtrics panel-based survey, resulting in a sample of 385 Black adults. It was hypothesized that online racism would be positively related to racial trauma symptoms, negatively related to well-being, and have a significant exacerbating effect. Specifically, online racism would lead to more racial trauma symptoms and a lower sense of well-being. Overall results showed that both online racism and lived experiences with racism were positively related to more racial trauma symptoms (i.e., physical symptoms, intrusion, and hypervigilance) and negatively related to well-being at the bivariate level. However, regression analyses did not yield significant interaction variables, indicating that online racism did not have an exacerbating moderating effect. Results, clinical implications, and study limitations were further discussed.