Multiracial Shifting Expression and Internalized Racism: Testing a Minority Stress Mediation Model

The current study applied critical multiracial theory and the minority stress model to explore how racial discrimination, multiracial discrimination, internalized racism, and shifting racial expressions contribute to psychological distress among multiracial adults in the United States. Utilizing a sample of 261 multiracial adults, findings indicated a positive correlation between psychological distress and all race and racism-related variables. Internalized racism predicted variance in psychological distress beyond racial discrimination in hierarchical linear regression. Results indicated that shifting racial expressions was positively associated with psychological distress, and the relationship between multiracial discrimination and psychological distress was mediated by shifting racial expression and internalized racism, as indicated using PROCESS macro 4.2 with 10,000 bootstrap samples to construct 95% confidence intervals for indirect effects. These results suggest that multiracial discrimination, shifting racial expressions, and internalized racism are significant factors in the mental health of multiracial adults. Implications for research, practice, training, and advocacy are discussed.