(PS7-C64) Skin Color Dissatisfaction Scores Predict Skin Bleaching Behaviors in U.S. Women of Color

Women of color in the U.S are impacted by both racism and colorism – forces that sometimes translate into dissatisfaction with their skin tone and the dangerous practice of skin bleaching. A novel measure of skin color dissatisfaction called the Skin Color Discrepancy (SCD) scale – a metric meant to be sensitive and inclusive of darker skin tones was developed in this study. To test the construct validity of the SCD scale, it was compared to two other existing, but flawed, skin color dissatisfaction measures- Skin Color Satisfaction Scale (SCSS) and Skin Color Questionnaire (STQ).  Each of these scales was then compared to perceived racism, perceived colorism, and history and severity of skin bleaching behaviors. U.S. Women of color (N = 346; 43.6% Asian, 16.8% Black, 14.5% Latin/Hispanic, 13.3% African American, 9.5% Biracial, 1.2% Native American, 0.6% Caribbean, 0.6% Other) were recruited from Prolific. To test for construct validity for only the women who reported skin bleaching, 3 regressions with 3 predictors (SCD, STQ, SCSS) and 1 outcome each (racism, colorism, & bleaching frequency) were run. Results of the regression analyses revealed several significant relationships. SCSS (𝛽 = 2.41; p = 0.02) and SCD ( = -1.98; p = 0.05) predicted racism scores. SCSS (𝛽 = 4.39; p < .001) and STQ (𝛽 = - 3.08; p = 0.002) predicted colorism scores. SCD (𝛽 = -3.07; p = 0.002) and SCSS (𝛽 = 2.09; p = 0.04) predicted frequency of bleaching behaviors. Since (N = 111) women reported no history of skin bleaching and (N = 346) women did report this history, an independent variable (IV) of bleachers vs. non-bleachers was created and a MANOVA was performed with perceived racism, colorism, SCD, SCSS, and STQ as DVs, F(5, 451) = 8.92, p < .001; Wilks’ Lambda = 0.91; partial eta squared = 0.09. Post-hoc analyses revealed bleachers had higher scores than non-bleachers for skin color dissatisfaction (SCD: p < .001; SCSS: p < .001; STQ: p < .001) and colorism scores (p < .001). These results suggest that the novel SCD scale has good predictive validity for bleaching behaviors. As the women who have used bleaching products - compared to those who had not – also reported more skin tone dissatisfaction and more perceived colorism, the body image construct of SCD might be beneficial in screening women of color and informing interventions to reduce the harmful practice of skin bleaching in the future.