**3.5 Functional versus dysfunctional coping**

Some methods of coping with racism are more functional than others. How to define functionality depends on if the goal is to end the distress caused by racist acts or if the goal is to stop more racism from occurring in the future, which may increase distress in the short term but result in greater well-being in the long run. Although stopping distress in the short term may have a more immediate impact on the victim's emotional state, behaviors that will be effective in stopping racism rather than simply coping with it, may also constitute a more altruistic means of coping and contribute to the ultimate goal of eradicating racism and facilitating anti-racist structures.

Coping strategies for racism can be divided into two distinct categories. Emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping, both of which prove valuable in different ways. As exemplified in the study by Plummer and Slane [40], emotion-focused coping (as opposed to problem focused coping) refers to efforts an individual makes to reduce emotional consequences of stressful experiences [49]. Emotion-focused coping methods include mindfulness, positive reframing,

#### **Figure 3.**

*A model of American black Men's coping responses to racism. Note: The main coping categories are found under 'coping response'. The specific coping strategies (subcategories) are listed below theses.*

venting, acceptance and processing the event. Complementarily, problem-focused coping refers to active efforts an individual will make to directly confront the stressor in order to reduce, eliminate or modify it. Problem-focused coping methods can be harmful or helpful and can include actions as diverse as speaking-out, confrontation or self-blame and substance abuse.

#### *3.5.1 Dysfunctional coping*

Despite widespread use, numerous coping strategies, both problem-based and emotion-based, can prove to be harmful to individuals in terms of psychosocial functioning, resulting in further dysfunction in the given individual. Dysfunctional coping approaches include overworking which can cause physical ailments [54, 55], disengagement and rumination which leads to or is a product of depression [56, 57], avoidance strategies which increase anxiety in the long term [58], positive reframing and self-blame which only increases denial and can lead to internalized racism and depression [59] and substance use which can lead to health problems and dependence [22].

#### *3.5.2 Ambiguous coping*

Many coping strategies may be helpful or detrimental to individuals depending on how they are used. Positive humor can be an effective form of emotion regulation for negative emotions as it helps facilitate reappraisal. However, negative humor may create too much emotional distance from the experience, and lead to disillusionment and cynicism [60].

Non-responsiveness as another example of an ambiguous coping mechanism can be an essential survival mechanism for Black Americans. By not responding and thereby avoiding escalation, a person can evade negative and potentially dangerous confrontations that can often triggering or even traumatizing (e.g., [61]). However, this type of coping can cause an individual's racial trauma to become internalized which can lead to depression, self-hatred, and repressed anger that may surface in unhealthy and even self-destructive ways.

Confrontation coping can help lead to good outcomes as it allows for agency and can be helpful in eradicating feelings of powerlessness [62]. However, it can become dangerous in cases where confrontation leads to an increased risk of persecution or retaliation from others [63, 64]. Anger is a natural response to being wronged, and it can motivate people to make important changes. But active anger can lead to impulsive actions or words which are violent or emotionally abusive.

Finally, while acceptance and mindfulness may at first glance seem to be positive strategies for coping, because they present a mechanism to accept the emotions elicited by a racist event and reduce distress [26, 65], they can be potentially unhelpful if they result in acceptance of repetitive racist mistreatment and facilitate continued exposure to racism, that can then lead to racial trauma [10, 66].

#### *3.5.3 Functional coping*

Several of the coping strategies identified in this review have been found to be beneficial for individuals to help them cope with life stressors in general including for physical pain [67]. Starting with the least active strategy, planning as a response to racism is a method of preparing for the emotional pain of racism by actively strategizing how to cope with a future event. Research has started to demonstrate that the anticipation of a future racial incident might cause people of color to start coping prior to the situation, in order to limit the impacts of this stressor [68, 69].

*Gender Differences in Coping with Racism: African American Experience and Empowerment DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99930*

The act of venting is more active and refers to a primarily verbal action of speaking to oneself or others emotionally about an event which has occurred in the past. This action externalizes the experience and provides an opportunity to process a racist event in a more tangible way than simply thinking or planning around it.

One of the most successful and healthy coping mechanisms used to combat the stress of racism is social support, which is also very effective and more active than venting and planning [70]. Social safety networks and communities of most any kind provide a way to self-express, obtain feedback, take agency, gain validation, and develop resilience. However, most importantly, social networks provide positive affirmation, which is deeply therapeutic in the face of racialized invalidation [71].

Religious practice is the most frequently used and one of the more active coping mechanisms, and as we have seen, among women specifically. Religion can provide a more expansive, firmly rooted perspective on self identity and one's place in the world. Religion also pairs the positive affirmation of identity with the concept of transformative meaning in suffering, such as from racist events. Transformative meaning, a type of positive reframing, is the concept that negative, even traumatic events can be meaningful when understood as a growth and learning experience [72, 73].

#### **3.6 Eliminating racism and empowerment**

Many coping strategies that may be personally helpful in the short term may not be effective for eliminating racism in the long term. Real social change will require an investment in strategies that cause racist acts to happen less often and dismantle structural racism. Understanding the source, history and nature of racism in the United States and how it functions is a prerequisite for addressing Black stress related to racism, since it can be difficult to theorize about solutions when the core nature of the problem is unseen or misunderstood. Black people will be best equipped to cope with racism when they understand the nature of racism, feel secure in their identity, and are prepared to address racism as it arises in the moment. As such, strong personal agency can be therapeutic in the face of racism. When a person can a reasoned choice as to how they would like to respond to racism in the moment, it empowers them by providing more control over the discriminatory experiences they face.

Educating others about racism is a type of direct approach that can be an effective coping strategy that can help eliminate racism by reducing the overall level of racism in the community. As people understand how they commit racist acts, this awareness allows them to more easily make antiracist choices.

*Empowerment* enables people of color to move toward eliminating racism, which will ultimately lead to positive social change as racism becomes less acceptable and society becomes more equitable. Making a meaningful contribution to anti-racist / pro-justice causes around issues of structural racism can be a coping act of agency and self-affirmation [74]. For Black people with racial stress and trauma, healing and helpful coping strategies with benefits to both the individual and the community will result in better outcomes [74, 75] than using other types of coping strategies.

#### **4. Discussion**

#### **4.1 Future directions**

After completing this review of the literature, it is apparent that there are still gaps in our understanding of the role of emotional regulation and coping as strategies for Black people facing racism. All of the articles in this review are based on

American samples, with the exception of Joseph and Kuo's [33] study focused on Black Canadians. Sex and gender were conflated in this study, since the papers reviewed generally did not report these separately. Additionally, there is a lack of research that concentrates on the responses of Black sexual and gender minorities or those with intersectional identities other than gender. While researching for this paper, very few articles reviewed took into account the unique experience of living with multiple stigmatized identities. For example, the manner in which queer African Americans face racism may differ from approaches used by cis-heterosexual African Americans, and consequently, this would be important to explore and to compare.

Children were not included in this review. As evidenced by our literature search, there does exists some scholarly work focused on African American children's responses to racism which could be of value to understanding racism-related coping across the developmental lifespan. Further, not all online journal databases were utilized for this literature review so it is possible that some relevant articles and findings might be missing from this review and could have been excluded during the article review phases. Lastly, the effectiveness of the coping strategies Black people use to cope with racism was not explored in any study. Future research should examine the efficacy of these responses.
