Date of Award

5-31-2026

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Sarah Hayes-Skelton

Second Advisor

Alice S. Carter

Third Advisor

Lizabeth Roemer

Abstract

Internalized racism is associated with adverse mental health conditions, including anxiety. However, research examining the relation between internalized racism and social anxiety remains limited. The primary purpose of this current study was to explore the relation between internalized racism and social anxiety and whether cognitive processes, such as negative core beliefs about the self or interpersonal factors, such as anti-mattering help explain this relation.  Specifically, this study examined anti-mattering as a potential mediator linking internalized racism and social anxiety and whether negative core beliefs about the self, mediate the relation between internalized racism and anti-mattering. Lastly, the study examined a serial mediation model in which negative core beliefs about the self and anti-mattering were examined together in the relation between internalized racism and social anxiety.  A sample of one hundred and seven participants who identified as a Person of Color were recruited and participated in an online study. Participants completed self-report measures of internalized racism, social anxiety symptoms, anti-mattering, and negative core beliefs about the self.

Results indicated that higher levels of internalized racism were positively associated with higher levels of social anxiety. Mediation analysis revealed that negative core beliefs about the self may serve as a possible explanatory mechanism in the association between internalized racism and social anxiety, whereas anti-mattering did not account for variance in this relation. This indicates that internalized racism may primarily influence social anxiety through internal cognitive processes rather than interpersonal perceptions of insignificance. Repeated exposure to racist messages and experiences may become internalized as deeply held beliefs about personal inadequacy, unworthiness, or defectiveness, which in turn may heighten fears of negative evaluation and rejection in social situations. Although anti-mattering did not mediate the relation between internalized racism and social anxiety, anti-mattering was positively associated with social anxiety and was indirectly related to internalized racism through negative core beliefs, suggesting that perceptions of insignificance may develop as a consequence of negative core beliefs about the self shaped by internalized racism.

Taken together, these findings highlight the central role of negative core beliefs about the self in understanding social anxiety among People of Color. Interventions that explicitly target negative core beliefs shaped by internalized racism may be particularly important for reducing social anxiety symptoms.

Comments

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