title: Buffers of Racial Discrimination: Links with Depression among Rural African American Mothers.
abstract: The current study examines racial discrimination as a predictor of depression in a sample of 414 rural, low-income African American mothers of young children. The potential moderating role of optimism and church-based social support was also examined. Mothers completed questionnaires when their child was 24-months-old. Hierarchical regression revealed that mothers' perception of racism was a significant predictor of depression even after controlling for a variety of distal demographic characteristics and environmental stressors. Significant interactions suggested the importance of psychological and social characteristics in understanding maternal depression. Specifically, high levels of optimism and church-based social support buffered mothers from increased depressive symptomology due to perceived racism.
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Family Life Project Key Investigators, The University of North Carolina, The Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Erica C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Odom
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vernon-Feagans