Coping with discrimination among Mexican American college students

There is limited research directly examining the process of how Mexican American college students cope with unique experiences of racial discrimination. The present study used a multiple mediation model to collectively examine the indirect effects of engagement (i.e., problem solving, cognitive restructuring, expression of emotion, and social support) and disengagement (i.e., social withdrawal, self-criticism, problem avoidance, and wishful thinking) coping strategies on the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and subjective well-being of 302 Mexican American college students. Results suggested that perceived racial discrimination was negatively correlated with subjective well-being. Moreover, of the engagement coping strategies examined, only problem solving had a significant mediating effect that was associated with elevations in subjective well-being. Specifically, perceptions of racial discrimination were positively related to problem solving, which, in turn, was positively related to subjective well-being. Of the disengagement coping strategies examined, self-criticism, wishful thinking, and social withdrawal had a significant mediating effect that was negatively associated with subjective well-being. Specifically, perceptions of racial discrimination were positively related to self-criticism, wishful thinking, and social withdrawal, which, in turn, were negatively related to subjective well-being. Ultimately, these findings highlight the indirect and complex ways in which multiple coping strategies are used to effectively, and sometimes not effectively, deal with racism experienced by Mexican Americans college students.