Although this review focused on concepts of mediation, existing research has demonstrated that sociodemographic and identity-specific variables impact the nature and severity of stress experiences, as well as the salience and prevalence of certain general psychological processes, suggesting the existence of moderating processes. This research therefore points to specific theory-driven studies that can examine various hypotheses of “moderated mediation” (i.e., examining whether a mediated effect is constant across levels of a moderator variable; Baron & Kenny, 1986; MacKinnon, 2008) that will provide an important extension of the psychological mediation framework. Several relevant moderator variables are reviewed below.
