Objectives: Racial discrimination is consistently linked to negative mental health outcomes. However, less is known about how unique patterns of coping in Black Americans experiencing high discrimination stress may moderate the association between discrimination and mental health. The present study uses person-centered methods to identify and describe latent profiles of coping in Black Americans, to understand how these coping profiles are linked to mental health, and to examine whether latent coping profiles moderate the links between discrimination and mental health.
Method: Participants were Black Americans (N = 289; Mage = 44.87; 63% women) from the Midlife Development in the United States Milwaukee Refresher study. Latent profile analysis was used to uncover subgroups characterized by distinct patterns of coping strategies. Direct associations between latent profile membership and mental health were examined. Finally, latent profiles were tested as moderators of associations between discrimination and mental health.
Results: Four profiles of coping responses were identified: passive responders (29% of the sample), evasive responders (15%), diverse responders (17%), and engaged responders (39%). Engaged responders had the lowest prevalence of mental health problems. Further, membership in the engaged responders profile moderated associations between discrimination and mental health, such that the associations between racial discrimination and mental health outcomes were generally stronger in other profiles.
Conclusions: Person-centered methods uncovered meaningful subgroups characterized by unique coping patterns and pointed to engaged responders as being most resilient to the effects of discrimination. Future research should test these associations longitudinally and examine whether more adaptive coping profiles can be fostered through intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).