Racial identity attitudes and vicarious traumatization from undue police violence on anticipatory traumatic reaction among Black Americans

Though the viral nature of videos that capture violent and racialized policing of Black Americans in the United States can increase awareness, exposure to race-based violence can result in vicarious traumatization, particularly among Black Americans. The relationship between anticipatory traumatic reactions and racial identity attitudes are not clearly addressed in the extant body of literature. The current study addresses this research disparity by using a cluster analysis of Black Americans (N = 138) to examine the differences between racial identity attitudes and anticipatory traumatic reactions following media exposure to undue police violence. Results from the study indicated that no differences between anticipatory traumatic reactions existed based on types of media exposure. Significant differences across three racial identity clusters existed between anticipatory traumatic reaction in association with attitudes of assimilation, miseducation, self-hatred, anti-dominance, and ethnic racial salience.