The development and initial validation of the White Fragility Scale.

Over the last couple of years, the topic of White fragility has garnered a considerable degree of attention. White fragility is considered a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress can become intolerable and trigger a range of emotional and behavioral reactions intended to restore a sense of racial comfort (DiAngelo, White fragility: Why it's so hard for White people to talk about racism, 2018, Beacon Press). In effort to measure the expression of White fragility, we developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of the 21-item White Fragility Scale (WFS). Data consisted of two independent samples of White participants recruited from M-Turk (327) and a Midwest University's Psychpool (234). Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for a bifactor model consisting of one general White fragility factor and three specific factors of Emotional Defensiveness, Accommodation of Safety, and Exceptionism. Ancillary bifactor indices supported treating the WFS as a unidimensional measure of White fragility yet also revealed meaningful utility of the Accommodation of Safety subscale. Concurrent validity evidence for the WFS was established through significant associations with modern racism, general and specific dimensions of colorblind racial attitudes, and social dominance orientation. In addition, nonsignificant, near-zero correlations with social desirability provided support for divergent validity. Recommendations for future research involving the WFS are provided as well as practical implications for professionals whose work requires a certain degree of racial stamina. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Transracially adoptive parents' colorblindness and discrimination recognition: Adoption stigma as moderator.

OBJECTIVES: In a sample of transracially adoptive parents, this study examined the moderating role of adoption stigma in the relationship between their colorblind attitudes and their perceptions of different forms of discrimination. Specifically, we hypothesized that parents' colorblind attitudes would be negatively related to their perceptions of their adopted children's experiences with racism and their views toward racial microaggressions and institutional racism. We also hypothesized that perceived adoption stigma would moderate these relationships, such that the inverse association between colorblindness and the 3 outcome variables would be weakened by adoption stigma. METHOD: A total of 172 White parents (Mage = 48.41) with adopted children of color participated in the study by completing questionnaires about their experiences as transracially adoptive parents. Women comprised 74% of participants. RESULTS: Results indicated that the relationship between participants' colorblind attitudes and their reports of adoptees' racist experiences was enhanced at nearly all levels perceived adoption stigma. In addition, results revealed that at high levels of perceived adoption stigma (75th and 90th percentiles), the magnitude of the relationships between colorblind attitudes with microaggressions and institutional discrimination was significantly reduced and became nonsignificant for parents with younger adoptees but not older adoptees. CONCLUSIONS: Findings point to the potential benefits of helping transracially adoptive parents explore different dimensions of their own social-cultural identity as a way to enhance their ability to recognize different forms of discrimination that their adopted children may face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The influence of multiple oppressions on women of color's experiences with insidious trauma.

In this study, we examined the relations between multiple forms of oppressive experiences (i.e., racism, sexism, and sexual objectification) and trauma symptoms among Women of Color (WOC). In addition, self-esteem was explored as a partial mediating variable in these links, and ethnic identity strength was proposed to buffer the negative relationship between multiple forms of oppression and self-esteem, and the positive relationship between oppressive experiences and trauma symptoms. Results suggested that self-esteem partially mediated the positive relationship between racist experiences and trauma symptoms, such that racism was related to lower self-esteem, which was then related to more trauma symptoms. Sexism and sexual objectification were directly linked with trauma symptoms. Moreover, average and high levels of ethnic identity strength buffered the positive link between racism and trauma symptoms. Consistent with an additive intersectionality framework, results demonstrate the importance of attending to multiple forms of oppression as they relate to trauma symptoms among WOC. (PsycINFO Database Record

Confirmatory evidence for a multidimensional model of racial-ethnic socialization for transracially adoptive families.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the current study is to test a recently established model of racial-ethnic socialization (Langrehr, 2014) among 2 samples of White transracially adoptive parents and to assess whether the proposed model functions similarly after accounting for adopted child race. METHOD: Based on a modified version of the Racial Bias Preparation Scale (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000), confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the 3-factor model (i.e., Prejudice Awareness, Racial-Ethnic Pride, and Egalitarianism) among 172 White transracially adoptive parents with Asian children (Mage = 45.72) and 140 White transracially adoptive parents with Black children (Mage = 42.62). In addition, multigroup invariance testing was used to assess whether the proposed model functioned similarly across the 2 groups of parents. RESULTS: Results indicate that the proposed 3-factor model demonstrated partial measurement invariance such that the subconstruct of Egalitarianism functioned similarly across groups, whereas Racial-Ethnic Pride and Prejudice Awareness were deemed noninvariant. CONCLUSIONS: Findings are intended to help expand the concept of racial-ethnic socialization for transracially adoptive families and address the degree to which current research on racial-ethnic socialization can be applied to different transracially adoptive families. Results are intended to highlight ways that various social-cultural dimensions of family can culminate into different socialization experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record

Transracially adoptive parents' color-blind attitudes and views toward socialization: Cross-racial friendships as a moderator.

This study examined the moderating role of transracially adoptive parents' cross-racial friendships in the relationship between their color-blind attitudes and views toward cultural and racial socialization. Using hierarchical multiple regression analyses and the Johnson-Neyman technique, it was hypothesized that parents' color-blind attitudes would significantly account for 3 different dimensions of socialization beliefs (i.e., prejudice awareness, ethnic pride, and egalitarian socialization) and that self-reported cross-racial friendships would moderate the effects of color-blind attitudes. Results suggest that having several cross-racial friendships minimized the effects of participants' color-blind attitudes on their ethnic pride and egalitarian socialization beliefs, whereas having few cross-racial friendships enhanced the effects of color-blind attitudes on both socialization variables. The importance of transracially adoptive families creating diverse and multiracial social networks is discussed.