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Adolescent Mental Health in Relation to Anti-Racism Critical Action

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

The relation between critical action and mental health in youth is unclear, despite theory suggesting that engagement in critical action may support adaptive mental health functioning for youth experiencing oppressive systems. The current study contributed to the literature in this understudied area by analyzing the relations between youth critical anti-racism action and their depressive symptoms and psychological well-being, as well as testing two potential moderators of these relations: parent critical motivation and community anti-racism. The study sample consisted of 430 13-to-17-year-old adolescents (M age = 15.3 years, 54% girls, 48% black and 52% white). The findings suggest that critical action is often associated with negative mental health outcomes; however, parent critical motivation and community anti-racism were protective in some instances and communal anti-racism action was more frequently linked to adaptive mental health outcomes than other forms of action. The findings underscore that both psychological risks and rewards are present for youth engaging in critical action for racial justice and highlight the importance of future research to identify malleable factors that are protective for these youth.

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Funding

This work was funded by Clark University (internal research funds).

Data Sharing and Declaration

The datasets generated and analyzed for the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clark University, 950 Main St., Worcester, MA, 01610, USA

    Amy E. Heberle, Anna C. Wagner & Noah Hoch

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  1. Amy E. Heberle
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  2. Anna C. Wagner
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  3. Noah Hoch
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Contributions

A.H. conceived of the study, participated in its design, conducted analyses, and drafted the manuscript; A.W. participated in study design and helped to draft the manuscript; and N.H. participated in the design of the study and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Amy E. Heberle.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Preregistration

This study’s desired sample size, measures, hypotheses, and planned analyses were preregistered on aspredicted.org (#61793) prior to the collection of study data (https://aspredicted.org/3NV_NCK).

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Clark University Institutional Review Board (protocol #35) and performed in accordance with the ethical standards articulated in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all parent participants included in the study and assent was obtained from all adolescents

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Heberle, A.E., Wagner, A.C. & Hoch, N. Adolescent Mental Health in Relation to Anti-Racism Critical Action. J Youth Adolescence 51, 832–847 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01589-2

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