Identity mediates inequity and flourishing among racially minoritized and international undergraduate college students.

OBJECTIVE: Racially minoritized individuals can simultaneously experience both oppression and flourishing (ie, positive mental health). This study examines identity connection as a mediator of this relationship. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduates at a large, private university (n = 771), 59.4% racially minoritized American or international (RMA/I). METHODS: Measures included perception of value, perception of fair/equitable treatment, identity centrality (ie, significance of racial/ethnic identity), identity exploration, and flourishing. Structural equation models compared RMA/I vs. white American students. RESULTS: Among RMA/I students, flourishing was predicted by perception of value and identity centrality; identity centrality was positively predicted by perception of value and negatively predicted by perception of fair/equitable treatment. Among white American students, only perception of value predicted flourishing. CONCLUSIONS: Identity centrality mediated the relationship between fair/equitable treatment and flourishing among these minoritized undergraduate students, supporting theory that identity may be formed in response to oppression.

Emotional Appeals in HIV Prevention Campaigns: Unintended Stigma Effects.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether HIV/AIDS public service announcements (PSAs) that use emotional appeals have unintended effects of creating stigmatizing attitudes in their viewers. METHODS: We analyzed data for 240 respondents located in the United States who were recruited online. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions, where they viewed a PSA with hope appeals, fear appeals, or non-emotional appeals. Respondents then answered a series of questions about their attitudes about HIV/AIDS; testing behavior; engagement with HIV/AIDS-related people, organizations, and issues; and HIV/AIDS knowledge. We then performed MANOVA analyses and Pearson correlations. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in stigmatizing attitudes and behavior across the 3 conditions. However, once the data were split by sex, men exposed to the hope condition had significantly higher stigmatizing attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS than men in the other 2 conditions. CONCLUSIONS: This result was unexpected and suggests that further research needs to be conducted with a more robust sample size to account for any moderating influences that might explain why a hopeful message that communicates togetherness would have a negative attitudinal impact on male viewers.