Eleanor Johnston, “Fear Learning and Associations with Racial Discrimination among Black and White Trauma Survivors”
Mentor: Christine Larson, Psychology
Poster #70

Black Americans are at higher conditional risk for experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), following a trauma. In addition, recent data indicates that experiences of racial discrimination is associated with the severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Fear generalization is one common post-traumatic stress sequelae and reflects a tendency to respond to ambiguous or even safe stimuli as potentially threatening. A small amount of data suggests that chronic socioenvironmental stress, such as exposure to community violence, may also be associated with a tendency to generalize fear. This project will evaluate whether the presence of prior racially discriminatory experiences predicts fear generalization for Black adult trauma survivors. A total of 109 adult participants, (n=72 Black participants and n=37 white participants) were recruited from a local emergency department and completed assessments fear conditioning and racial discrimination at 2 weeks and 6 months following trauma. When examining fear conditioning specifically, the results demonstrated that Black participants who experienced racial discrimination were more likely than White participants to appraise a conditioned “safe” stimulus was potentially dangerous. We then examined whether this difference was due to experiences of racial discrimination. The disproportionate risk for post-traumatic stress symptoms in Black Americans has significant implications for public health and health disparities. Continued research could inform mental health practice, policy making, education, and countless other parts of our systems for the better.