Entre pertencimento e vulnerabilidade: explorando a identidade étnico-racial e sua relação com a saúde mental de grupos minorizados

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to gather and synthesize evidence on the impact of racism on the mental health of ethnoracial minorities, as well as to adapt an ethnoracial identity scale for use in the Brazilian context. The project is structured into three articles. The first article, through a scoping review, mapped national and international studies published over the past five years (sourced from BVS-Lilacs, PubMed, PsycNet, and Scielo) investigating the effects of racism on factors such as anxiety, depression, stress, and substance use. Six thematic categories emerged from the analysis: Symptomatology, Diagnoses, and Clinical Care; Racism and Identity; Racism and Police Violence; Vicarious Racism; Intersectionality of Racism and Gender; and Racism-COVID-19 Syndemic. The findings indicate a scarcity of empirical, quantitative studies on this topic in Brazilian scientific databases. Additionally, the effects of racism on mental health were found to occur across various contexts, including family, school, social networks, the labor market, and access to clinical care, exacerbating mental health issues, particularly among young adults. Black women were identified as being especially vulnerable,

experiencing microaggressions that combine racism and sexism, leading to lowered self- esteem and compromised mental health. The second article sought to understand ethnoracial

identity in Brazil and how it might buffer the impacts of racism by adapting the Cross Ethnic- Racial Identity Scale–Adult (CERIS-A) to the Brazilian context. This article comprises three

studies. In the first study (N = 727), the seven-factor structure of the scale demonstrated good model fit (χ2/df = 2.57; CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.047). Furthermore, the two most informative items from each factor (identified through Item Response Theory) were selected to compose a shortened version of the scale. In the second study (N = 415), a new Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted, again supporting the adequacy of the seven-factor structure (χ2/df = 0.54; CFI = 1.00; TLI = 1.01; RMSEA = 0.00). The third study (N = 1,179) assessed the measurement invariance of the CERIS-A across different groups (i.e., White, Mixed-race, and Black participants) and compared mean scores across groups via ANOVA. The findings indicate that CERIS-A is a valid, reliable, and consistent measure across diverse groups. Notably, Black participants scored higher on the dimensions of Self-Hate, Anti-Dominance, Ethnocentrism, and Ethnoracial Salience. The third and final article involved 348 racially diverse participants, aged 18 to 67 years (M = 26, SD = 9.14), and addressed the primary aim of the dissertation: to examine the moderating role of ethnoracial identity in the relationship between perceived racism and mental health outcomes. Results showed that both higher perceived racism and higher scores on the ethnoracial identity scale had direct effects on mental health outcomes. However, when the interaction between perceived racism and ethnoracial identity was tested, significant moderation effects were found only for certain stages (factors) of identity in the relationships between perceived racism and anxiety, and between perceived racism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but not for depression or alcohol use. Specifically, anxiety and PTSD symptoms were alleviated by lower levels of ethnoracial identity (assimilation) and by intermediate levels (anti-dominance). In sum, this study contributes to advancing empirical knowledge on the effects of racism on mental health and offers tools to inform interventions aimed at strengthening and promoting the well-being of affected populations.