How a Multicultural Upbringing Affects Stress Levels During Interracial Interactions

Abstract

The current study investigated if interracial interactions have the same negative effects on stress levels in people with multicultural backgrounds/upbringings as people without multicultural influences. Individuals had a 5-minute conversation about seasons with either a same-race or different-race partner. After the conversation, participants completed a demographics survey answering questions about their own race/ethnicity, the diversity of their childhood/current neighborhoods, as well as the number, length, and types of relationships one has with people of color. Videos of participants during these interactions were rated on four nonverbal social cues: hostility, anxiety, warmth, and enthusiasm, with only hostility giving marginally significant results. Patterns in the data suggested that people are more hostile during same-race interactions than interracial interactions, and that this effect depends on the degree to which the participant came from a multiracial background. These results suggest that the more comfortable a person is in a conversation, the less likely they are to hold back negative emotions thereby being perceived as more hostile.