Ethnic and Mainstream Social Connectedness, Perceived Racial Discrimination, and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Carter (2007) proposed the notion of race-based traumatic stress and argued that experiences of racial discrimination can be viewed as a type of trauma. In a sample of 383 Chinese international students at 2 predominantly White midwestem universities, the present results supported this notion and found that perceived racial discrimination predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms over and above perceived general stress. Furthermore, Berry (1997) proposed an acculturation framework and recommended that researchers advance the literature by examining the moderation effects on the association between racial discrimination and outcomes. The present results supported the moderation effect for Ethnic SC (i.e., social connectedness in the ethnic community), but not for Mainstream SC (i.e., social connectedness in mainstream society). A simple effects analysis indicated that a high Ethnic SC weakened the strength of the association between perceived racial discrimination and posttraumatic stress symptoms more than a low Ethnic SC. Moreover, although Mainstream SC failed to be a moderator, Mainstream SC was significantly associated with less perceived general stress, less perceived racial discrimination, and less posttraumatic stress symptoms.