Vicarious Experiences with Police Violence: Examining Psychosocial Factors that Predict Black Individuals’ Negative Affect and Intentions to Engage in Collective Action

In the present study, we examined whether willingness to participate in collective action and feelings of negative affect in response to the police killing of a Black man can be explained by individual differences in racial identity, identification with the shooting victim, and feeling personally threatened by the shooting incident. Participants ( N = 328 Black university students) completed online questionnaires after reading one of two non-fictional vignettes of a fatal police shooting of a Black American. Three components of racial identity were assessed (racial centrality, private regard, and public regard). Results indicated that all three racial identity variables predicted negative affect through a sequence of greater identification with the shooting victim and concerns about personal threat. When predicting collective action, however, only racial centrality predicted the outcome via these sequential mediators. Implications for research and theory on vicarious racism and the need for mental health resources in communities are discussed.