Coping with Ethnic–racial Discrimination: Short-term Longitudinal Relations Among Black and Latinx College Students

Little is known about how Black and Latinx young adults cope with experiences of ethnic–racial discrimination, particularly over short periods of time. A multigroup path model examined the relations between discrimination and five strategies for coping with ethnic–racial discrimination (talking with others, being proud, working hard, being rude, and ignoring) among Black and Latinx young adults (N = 145) at two time points over a six-week period. Experiences of discrimination were positively associated with the coping strategies of being proud of oneself and working hard to prove discriminatory people wrong. There was moderate stability in coping strategy use over time. Models did not vary by race–ethnicity, suggesting discrimination related to coping in similar ways among Black and Latinx young adults.