Perceived discrimination and implications: Psychological distress, general self-efficacy and coping

Pages: 782-787
Sangeeta Arya Tanwar (Department of Psychology, Gargi College, University of Delhi, Delhi)

Since a long time, North-East-Indian students have been experiencing numerous obstacles in their pursuit of higher education. They evidently face an array of psycho-social challenges in adjusting to the urban environment of Universities located in Delhi & NCR, mainly because of minor to major experiences of social discrimination owing to their physical and ethnic distinctiveness. This study assessed a sample of 63 undergraduate female students from North-East regions of India to identify relationship between prevalent forms of discrimination and psychological distress and general self-efficacy. It was revealed that ‘Devaluing Actions’ was the most prevalent form of discrimination and is positively correlated with psychological distress and negatively correlated with General self efficacy. Also, psychological distress and General Self Efficacy were inversely related. Most frequently used coping mechanism was found to be ‘refusal to think’ about the stress caused by discrimination.