(PS10-C75) Hope and Perceived Discrimination: Predictors of Well-being and Mental Health Outcomes in a Diverse Sample

Background: Racism has plagued American society for quite a long time, impacting the lives of people of color through multiple levels of discrimination. Being discriminated against has been associated with disproportionately negative impacts for people of color, predicting a higher risk of mental illness and distress and lower levels of life satisfaction (Chang et al., 2019; Hwang & Goto, 2008; Vargas et al., 2020). Hope, on the other hand, has been shown to have adaptive impacts on health outcomes. In general, hope has been associated with lower levels of psychopathology and higher levels of well-being (Banks et al., 2008; Lee & Gallagher, 2017). Comparable results have been found in ethnically diverse populations, as hope has been found to be protective by acting as a buffer against mental illness and bolstering mental wellness in African American and Latinx samples (Chang et al., 2019; Davidson et al., 2010; Hollingsworth et al., 2014; Karaman et al., 2020). The present study aims to explore hope and perceived discrimination’s ability to predict mental health outcomes such anxiety, depression, and well-being.

Method: Participants were 2600 University of Houston undergraduate students who identified as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian/ Pacific Islander. Participants completed The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire – Community Version, Adult Hope Scale, Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale, Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale, and the Mental Health Continuum- Short Form . Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) using Mplus version 8 were used to examine the latent effects of hope and discrimination on outcomes.

Results: The CFA model for hope and our five outcomes demonstrated good fit (χ2 = 4128.79, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.06).  Hope predicted higher levels of all three domains of well-being (emotional, social, and psychological) and lower levels of psychopathology (anxiety and depression) in SEM analyses. The CFA model for discrimination also demonstrated good fit (χ2 = 4071.38, CFI = 0.947, TLI = 0.937, RMSEA = 0.064). Discrimination significantly predicted lower emotional and psychological well-being but not social well-being, while predicting higher levels of anxiety and depression. These effects were also maintained when both hope and discrimination were specified as predictors simultaneously.

Conclusion: Higher levels of hope predicted adaptive outcomes, while higher levels of discrimination predicted more maladaptive outcomes for people of color. This effect of hope was also maintained when both hope and discrimination were simultaneously specified as predictors.These results provide us with more evidence on the benefits of hope in diverse populations, while also recognizing the detrimental effects that perceived discrimination has on Black, Latinx and Asian Americans. More research is needed on the mental health benefits of hope in ethnically diverse communities and how targeting hope may be beneficial in clinical contexts. It will also be helpful to explore the potential interactive effects that hope may have on factors that predict negative outcomes in these populations such as perceived discrimination.