Experiences of racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms among people of Chinese heritage in Canada: The moderating role of resilience.

OBJECTIVE: Experiences of racism have been linked to increased race-based traumatic stress symptoms. However, studies in this area have not focused solely on Chinese individuals in North America, such as those in the United States and Canada. Furthermore, little is known about protective factors that may buffer the adverse impact of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms. Addressing these limitations, this study examined (a) the relationship between racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms and (b) the protective role of both individual and collective resilience in the association between racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms among people of Chinese heritage in Canada.

METHOD: A community sample of 367 Chinese heritage in Canada (Mage = 33.9; 46.59% women) completed self-report questionnaires.

RESULTS: Moderation analyses using SPSS PROCESS Model 1 showed that greater experiences of racism were significantly associated with increased race-based traumatic stress symptoms. Collective resilience, but not individual resilience, buffered the adverse effects of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms.

CONCLUSION: This study enhances the understanding of race-based traumatic stress among Chinese individuals and highlights the need to foster collective resilience and community-based support systems for this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).