Examining Dyadic Coping As a Mental Health Protective Factor of Systemic Racism and Anticipatory Stress Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Couples

Background: Marginalized communities are burdened with disproportionate health challenges, driven by systemic inequities. Among these stressors, include interactions with the criminal justice and police systems, which often serve as reminders of deep-rooted structural racism. This chronic stress, including anticipatory anxiety about potential encounters with law enforcement, can take a severe toll on mental health, contributing to conditions like depression and anxiety. Grounded in Minority Stress Theory, this study examines how stress related to the criminal justice system affects mental health, with a specific focus on the role of dyadic coping—the mutual emotional and practical support that partners provide to each other in times of stress. By examining same-race couples, the study explores how shared racial identities may shape how partners perceive support, stress, and cope with systemic racism, particularly in the context of anticipatory stress surrounding police encounters. We aim to uncover how these coping strategies might buffer the negative mental health effects of discrimination, shedding light on the potential protective role of interpersonal dynamics in navigating the psychological toll of structural inequities. This study offers novel intersectional insights into how couples and identity interact and contribute to the mental health challenges imposed by systemic barriers.

Methods: Utilizing a population-based survey of couples in the United States, the National Couples’ Health and Time Study (NCHAT) (N=3,642) contains a representative sample of racial and ethnic diverse and sexual and gender diverse individuals, collected between September 2020 to April 2021. Excluding missing values, the analytic sample comprises 3,639 respondents. Linear regression examines associations between police stress and depression outcomes as moderated by dyadic coping within same-race couples and inter-racial couples.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that while police stress and dyadic coping are respectively and significantly associated with depression outcomes (β=0.381, p<.001; β=0.229, p<0.001), dyadic coping moderates the negative impact of police stress on depression within same-race couples (β=-0.067, p<0.001). Demographic variables including age, income, education, and race had non-significant associations with depression, however, bisexual (β=0.418, p=0.005) and other/multiple (β=0.342 p=0.009). However, these associations were not statistically significant in inter-racial couples.

Conclusions: This study underscores the critical role of dyadic coping in mitigating the negative mental health effects of systemic racism. The findings suggest that partners in same-race relationships may provide more effective emotional support in response to shared racial stress, helping to buffer the impact of systemic discrimination on depression. In contrast, the lack of significant moderation in interracial couples and variation between racial/ethnic identities points to the complexity of coping dynamics when racial experiences diverge. Furthermore, such measures highlight the importance of both identity and intersectionality in the context of anticipatory stress. These results highlight the importance of considering both interpersonal and structural factors in mental health interventions for marginalized communities, particularly in addressing the mental health disparities linked to systemic racism. Future research should explore the nuanced ways in which identity, self and partner perception, relationship dynamics, and coping mechanisms intersect, and the role of couples-based interventions in supporting mental health resilience in the face of structural adversity.