African American Male Adolescents' Hostile Responses to Perceived Racial Discrimination / William D. Wakefield and Cynthia Hudley.

This study examined the hostile responses of adolescent African American males to acts of racial discrimination as a function of audience presence, noting attributions of personal control. Participants were 250 male African American students in grades 9-12 in an urban multiethnic high school who completed the Discrimination Response Index (DRI). The DRI measured three types of responses to acts of discrimination (passive, active, and hostile) in one particular situation (at a shopping mall) with three audience conditions (when the target was alone, with his best friend, and with a romantic friend). The DRI consisted of three hypothetical scenarios involving acts of racial discrimination against African Americans shopping at stores in a mall. In each story, a security guard accused a young African American male of stealing something. Participants also completed the Revised Causal Dimension Scale, which assessed dimensions of stability, locus, personal control, and external control. Data analysis indicated that audience condition and perceived personal control related to respondents' interpretation of racial discrimination and issues of self-presentation and impression management. In situations where someone was present, low perceived control participants were more likely than those with high perceived control to endorse hostile responses. (Contains 84 references.) (SM)

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