A Harmful Scene: Vicarious Exposure to Racism and Negative Affect Among Undergraduate Students in the Context of the George Floyd Tragedy

ABSTRACT

Evidence of vicarious exposure to racism has primarily been garnered from in-group racial-ethnic samples to convey its harmful psychological impacts on individuals who share identities with those who are directly experiencing the racist act being observed. The extent to which this evidence applies to out-group members exposed to vicarious racism is underexamined. The present study investigated the extent to which vicarious exposure to racialized violence in policing leading to the death of George Floyd predicted negative affect among a sample of undergraduate students when accounting for other factors that may contribute to negative affect. A sample (N = 683) of nonhomogeneous racial-ethnic (67% People of Color; 33% White) undergraduate students aged 18 to 41 completed an online survey assessing demographic characteristics, vicarious racism exposure, everyday discrimination exposure, and affect during the summer and fall of 2020. Bivariate analyses indicated racial-ethnic disparities in negative affect among the sample. After controlling for race-ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity, and everyday discrimination, a hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that exposure to vicarious racialized violence in policing significantly predicted increased levels of negative affect. These findings provide vital insight into the harmful psychological impacts of vicarious exposure to racialized violence on individuals in the U.S. which has individual, population, and public health implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Negative affect
• psychological health
• racism
• undergraduate students
• vicarious exposure
• violence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical standards and informed consent

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of Virginia Commonwealth University. The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for the publication of the information presented in Tables 1–5.

Additional information

Funding

This Article funded by National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.