Exposure to ethnic discrimination in social media and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Hispanic emerging adults: Examining the moderating role of gender

Miguel Ángel Cano; Seth J Schwartz; David P MacKinnon; Brian T H Keum; Guillermo Prado; Flavio F Marsiglia; Christopher P Salas-Wright; Cory L Cobb; Luz M Garcini; Mario De La Rosa; Mariana Sánchez; Abir Rahman; Laura M Acosta; Angelica M Roncancio; Marcel A de Dios

doi:10.1002/jclp.23050

Exposure to ethnic discrimination in social media and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Hispanic emerging adults: Examining the moderating role of gender

J Clin Psychol. 2021 Mar;77(3):571-586. doi: 10.1002/jclp.23050. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

Authors

Miguel Ángel Cano¹, Seth J Schwartz^{2

3}, David P MacKinnon⁴, Brian T H Keum⁵, Guillermo Prado², Flavio F Marsiglia⁶, Christopher P Salas-Wright⁷, Cory L Cobb³, Luz M Garcini⁸, Mario De La Rosa⁹, Mariana Sánchez¹⁰, Abir Rahman¹, Laura M Acosta¹¹, Angelica M Roncancio¹², Marcel A de Dios¹³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
² Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.
³ Department of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
⁵ Department of Social Welfare, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁶ School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
⁷ School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
⁹ School of Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
¹² Department of Social Sciences, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, Texas, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.

Abstract

Method: Two hundred Hispanic emerging adults from Arizona (n = 99) and Florida (n = 101) completed a cross-sectional survey, and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses.

Results: Higher social media discrimination was associated with higher symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety. Moderation analyses indicated that higher social media discrimination was only associated with symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety among men, but not women.

Conclusion: This is likely the first study on social media discrimination and mental health among emerging adults; thus, expanding this emerging field of research to a distinct developmental period.

Keywords: Internet discrimination; Latinos; cultural stress; mental health; online racism.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Anxiety / epidemiology
Anxiety / psychology*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression / epidemiology
Depression / psychology*
Female
Hispanic or Latino / psychology*
Humans
Male
Racism / psychology*
Sex Factors
Social Media*
Young Adult

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding