Untangling racism: Stress reactions in response to variations of racism against Black Canadians

This study investigates how Black Canadians experience and react to different forms of racism. A survey study (n=158) revealed that explicit racism was linked to anger-out coping and lower depressive affect, while ambiguous racism was associated with suppressed anger and higher depressive affect, particularly when participants perceived high public regard for Black people. An experimental study (n=211) manipulated racist cues in videos; ambiguous cues led to less appraisal of events as racist, even with violence, while Black observers (but not White) showed higher cortisol levels with violent incidents. The findings highlight the detrimental effects of ambiguous racism and suggest that policies emphasizing multiculturalism may worsen the impact of racism without open acknowledgement of systemic racism.

Kimberly Matheson, Andrena Pierre, Mindi D. Foster, Mathew Kent, Hymie Anisman