Assessing the Effects of the Acting White Accusation Among Black Girls: Social Anxiety and Bullying Victimization

One of the most harmful accusations one Black adolescent can hurl at another is the acting White accusation (AWA). The AWA is an attack against an individual's ethnic/racial identity and many have described it as a bullying experience. Those who experience the AWA frequently and are bothered by it might perceive the accusation as bullying for these reasons, and peer victimization has been associated with several negative outcomes including social anxiety. The present study examines the relationship between the acting White accusation, bullying victimization, and social anxiety. Thirty-one Black females between the ages of 10 and 18 years served as participants in the study. The findings indicated that all participants reported receiving the accusation at least once in their lifetime. The results also indicated that bother experienced when receiving the accusation was positively associated with social anxiety, while both bother and frequency of the accusation were positively associated with bullying victimization. These findings suggest that adolescents interpret the accusation as a negative evaluation. Additionally, the more an adolescent experiences the accusation and the more bothered he or she is by it, the more victimized they feel.