Race-related correlates of young adults' subjective well-being

We investigated how often young adults worry about race relations and wheth er they perceive that white/black relations have been deteriorating. We als o explored the relationships between race-related worry and pessimism, and subjective well-being. This study addressed the distribution of race-relate d worry and pessimism, and their relationship to subjective well-being in n ational probability samples of high school seniors completing self-administ ered questionnaires in 1996 and 1997 (n = 4,514). Nearly one-third of high school seniors often worry about race relations, and about 20% perceive tha t contemporary white/black relations have been getting at least a little wo rse. Worrying often about race relations and perceiving that race relations have been getting worse were significantly associated with diminished leve ls of life satisfaction and happiness. The results confirm that race-relate d worry and pessimism were common, and that they impact youth's affective a nd cognitive states.