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Race‐based rejection sensitivity partially accounts for the relationship between racial discrimination and distressing attenuated positive psychotic symptoms
Author(s) -
Anglin Deidre M.,
Greenspoon Michelle,
Lighty Quenesha,
Ellman Lauren M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
early intervention in psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.087
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1751-7893
pISSN - 1751-7885
DOI - 10.1111/eip.12184
Subject(s) - psychology , race (biology) , ethnic group , distress , racism , population , clinical psychology , psychological distress , medicine , psychiatry , mental health , botany , environmental health , sociology , anthropology , political science , law , biology
Aim Self‐reported experiences of racial discrimination have been associated with a continuum of psychotic experiences in racial and ethnic minority populations; however, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship are not yet clear. Race‐based rejection sensitivity ( RS ‐race) has been associated with thought intrusions about being the target of racial discrimination; therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether RS ‐race accounts for the relationship between racial discrimination and psychotic‐like experiences in racial and ethnic minority populations. Methods A sample of 644 young adults from a US urban, predominantly immigrant, and racial and ethnic minority population was administered a self‐report inventory of psychosis risk (i.e. Prodromal Questionnaire ( PQ ) ), providing a dimensional assessment of the total number of attenuated positive psychotic symptoms experienced as distressing ( APPS ‐distress). Participants also completed the Experiences of Discrimination Questionnaire and the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire‐Race. Results Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that RS ‐race and racial discrimination were both significantly related to higher levels of APPS ‐distress. Bootstrapping analyses of indirect effects indicated that RS ‐race partially accounted for the relationship between racial discrimination and APPS ‐distress. Conclusion Although the cross‐sectional nature of the data limits conclusions about causal inference, our findings do suggest that racial discrimination and RS ‐race may both be important for understanding risk for distress in the psychotic spectrum among racial and ethnic minority young adults. Some individuals who report racial discrimination may be more vulnerable to APPS ‐distress in part because they are anxiously anticipating being racially slighted, and this should be explored further in prospective clinical high‐risk studies.