Racial discrimination and body appreciation: Testing direct, and, via coping strategies, indirect links in racialised minority adults from the United Kingdom

Racial discrimination is associated with adverse health outcomes, including negative body image, but less is known about the extent to which racial discrimination is associated with positive body image. The aim of this preregistered study was to test the association between racial discrimination and body appreciation (i.e., a facet of positive body image) and to explore whether different coping strategies mediated any direct relationship. An online sample of racialised minority adults living in the United Kingdom (N = 576) were asked to complete the Everyday Discrimination Scale, Body Appreciation Scale-2, and the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced inventory. Preliminary linear modelling showed that seeking emotional social support, positive reinterpretation and growth, turning to religion, and focusing on and venting of emotions were significantly associated with body appreciation. However, findings from subsequent path analysis indicated that racial discrimination was not directly associated with body appreciation. In men only, the direct relationship between racial discrimination and body appreciation was mediated by focus on and venting of emotions. These findings suggest that experiences of racial discrimination may not be associated with positive body image outcomes, at least in racialised minority adults from the United Kingdom. We discuss possible reasons for this, as well as the generally null mediating effects.