Gender shapes interracial interactions: Understanding Black and Latine men and women's experiences in anticipated cross-gender interracial interactions.

OBJECTIVES

The present research examined how gender influences Black and Latine individuals' anticipated experiences in interracial interactions and same-race interactions.

METHOD: Three experimental studies (N = 1,202) were conducted. In Studies 1A and 1B, Black (S1A: Mage = 30.34, 59% women) and Latine (S1B: Mage = 27.90, 51% women) adults imagined an interaction with either a White man or a White woman. In Study 2 (N = 372), Black and Latino men (Mage = 34.35) anticipated an interaction with a White man, a White woman, a Black or Latino man, or a Black or Latina woman. After, we assessed participants' social identity threat concerns due to gender, race/ethnicity, and the combination of both identities, along with their perceptions of their interaction partner, their anticipated trust and belonging in the interaction, their interest in befriending their partner (S2), and their rejection concerns (S2).

RESULTS

In Study 1, both men and women of color reported more gender-based social identity threat when they imagined a cross-gender (vs. gender-matched) interracial interaction. In Study 2, Black and Latino men reported more gender-based social identity threat when they anticipated an interaction with a White man, a White woman, and a Black or Latina woman relative to a Black or Latino man. In both studies, heightened gender-based social identity threat undermined participants' anticipated interaction experiences and willingness to engage in a future interaction with their interaction partner.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the need to consider gender when examining Black and Latine women's and men's experiences in interracial interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).