Date of Award

2026-05-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

Advisor(s)

Hannah Volpert-Esmond

Abstract

Discrimination is a pervasive stressor that shapes mental health through both direct experiences and indirect, or vicarious, exposure. In contemporary contexts marked by global media saturation, individuals may repeatedly witness discrimination and violence directed toward their social group, amplifying psychological burden. The present longitudinal study examined how direct and vicarious discrimination were associated with affective well-being among U.S. Muslims during the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and whether religious identity and religious coping moderated these associations over time. Participants (N = 103) completed a baseline survey and up to 11 weekly surveys over a three-month period. Multilevel mixed-effects growth models were used to assess within-person and between-person associations between discrimination (direct and vicarious) and three affective outcomes: positive affect, general negative affect, and event-specific negative affect. Results indicated that vicarious discrimination was a robust predictor of both general and event-specific negative affect at both within- and between-person levels. Direct discrimination showed more limited and outcome-specific associations, primarily predicting event-specific negative affect. Across the study period, general and event-specific negative affect declined, suggesting partial emotional recovery following an initial period of heightened distress; however, this recovery was attenuated among individuals with higher chronic discrimination and greater engagement in religious coping. Religious identity did not consistently buffer the effects of discrimination and was associated with both higher positive affect and higher event-specific negative affect, suggesting increased emotional attunement to group-based harm. Religious coping demonstrated a complex role: while it attenuated some between-person associations between discrimination and distress, it was also linked to higher overall distress and, in some cases, intensified within-person associations. Notably, both direct and vicarious discrimination were positively associated with positive affect at the between-person level, indicating that exposure to group-based injustice may co-occur with feelings of engagement, purpose, or solidarity. These findings highlight the importance of vicarious discrimination as a central mechanism shaping mental health in media-saturated contexts of collective violence. The results extend theoretical models of discrimination and minority stress by demonstrating that indirect exposure to group-based harm operates as both a chronic and time-varying stressor. Furthermore, the findings complicate assumptions about religiosity as uniformly protective, emphasizing the context-dependent roles of religious identity and coping. Implications for theory, research, and culturally responsive mental health interventions are discussed.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

136 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Manal Aboargob

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