Racelessness aids academic success but harms psychological well-being

Evidence

Cross (1991; Vandiver, Cross, Worrell, & Fhagen-Smith, 2002) proposed a developmental Nigresence Model in which identity evolves over time, and the relation of stages of racial identity to self-esteem varies. The first stage is labeled Pre-Encounter and consists of Assimilation (associated with racelessness) or Anti-Black identities (related to “mideducation,” often based on system justification; see Jost & Hamilton, ch. 13 this volume). Early stages represent a repressed racial status or racelessness. This corresponds to Allport’s intropunitive defenses of “denial of membership in own group” and “self-hate,” which would be expected to be less successful in protecting self-esteem. Research tends to support this idea: Selfhatred is linked directly to lowered self-esteem (Vandiver et al., 2002). In addition, Arroyo and Zigler (1995) found that whereas a measure of racelessness was positively related to academic achievement, it was also related to poorer psychological well-being and weakened ingroup ties. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1074

Cross (1991; Vandiver, Cross, Worrell, & Fhagen-Smith, 2002) proposed a developmental Nigresence Model in which identity evolves over time, and the relation of stages of racial identity to self-esteem varies. The first stage is labeled Pre-Encounter and consists of Assimilation (associated with racelessness) or Anti-Black identities (related to “mideducation,” often based on system justification; see Jost & Hamilton, ch. 13 this volume). Early stages represent a repressed racial status or racelessness. This corresponds to Allport’s intropunitive defenses of “denial of membership in own group” and “self-hate,” which would be expected to be less successful in protecting self-esteem. Research tends to support this idea: Selfhatred is linked directly to lowered self-esteem (Vandiver et al., 2002). In addition, Arroyo and Zigler (1995) found that whereas a measure of racelessness was positively related to academic achievement, it was also related to poorer psychological well-being and weakened ingroup ties. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1074

Categorization

• XREF: The racelessness/academic achievement vs. well-being tradeoff resonates with stereotype lift and threat research, and with ‘acting White’ literatures.
• QUESTION: What mechanism lets racelessness predict achievement while eroding well-being — is the achievement benefit itself a kind of coping cost?
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1074; , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1074