Victimization-related ego defenses can protect rather than harm mental health

Evidence

Interestingly, Allport did not believe that the traits that targets of prejudice develop as a result of their persecution are necessarily unpleasant or lead to poor mental health. Rather, he argued that targets develop ego defenses in response to ridicule, disparagement, and discrimination, some of which (e.g., ingroup solidarity) help to protect their mental health. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 928

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes modern resilience research, social identity theory, and Crocker & Major’s work which the authors cite; challenges simple deficit models of minority mental health. — connects to: Male emotional vulnerability enables rather than opposes ego-armour posturing — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1323
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 928