Black Girl Blues: The Roles of Racial Socialization, Gendered Racial Socialization, and Racial Identity on Depressive Symptoms among Black Girls

Stokes, McKenzie N.; Hope, Elan C.; Cryer-Coupet, Qiana R.; elliot, erin

doi:10.1007/s10964-020-01317-8

Empirical Research
Published: 21 September 2020

Black Girl Blues: The Roles of Racial Socialization, Gendered Racial Socialization, and Racial Identity on Depressive Symptoms among Black Girls

McKenzie N. Stokes ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0596-244X¹,
Elan C. Hope¹,
Qiana R. Cryer-Coupet¹ &
erin elliot²

Journal of Youth and Adolescence volume 49, pages 2175–2189 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Racial socialization is an important predictor of wellbeing among Black youth. Scholars have theorized that Black girls could benefit from gendered racial socialization or messages about being Black girls. However, this has not been examined empirically. The current study investigates the role of general and gendered racial socialization and racial identity attitudes on depressive symptoms among 287 Black girls between the ages of 13–17 (M_age = 15.4) in the U.S. Path analysis results demonstrated that general and gendered racial socialization about pride were directly associated with positive feelings about being Black which were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Oppressive messages about Black women were related to negative feelings about being Black and more depressive symptoms. The implications of general and gendered racial socialization on the psychological wellbeing of Black girls are discussed.

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Funding

This research was supported in part by funding from the Non-Laboratory Scholarship/Research Support Program at North Carolina State University.

Data Sharing and Declaration

The datasets analyzed for the current study are not publicly available but are available from the the corresponding author, McKenzie Stokes, on reasonable request.

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North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
McKenzie N. Stokes, Elan C. Hope & Qiana R. Cryer-Coupet
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
erin elliot

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McKenzie N. Stokes
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Elan C. Hope
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Qiana R. Cryer-Coupet
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Contributions

MS developed the initial research questions, designed the data analysis plan, and drafted the manuscript; EH and QCC secured funding to support survey design and collection of the data, interpretation of the analysis, and revised the manuscript; ee revised the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to McKenzie N. Stokes.

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This study involved human participants and was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board (North Carolina State University Institutional Review Board Protocol 12622).

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Stokes, M.N., Hope, E.C., Cryer-Coupet, Q.R. et al. Black Girl Blues: The Roles of Racial Socialization, Gendered Racial Socialization, and Racial Identity on Depressive Symptoms among Black Girls. J Youth Adolescence 49, 2175–2189 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01317-8

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Received: 01 July 2020
Accepted: 05 September 2020
Published: 21 September 2020
Issue Date: November 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01317-8

Keywords

Adolescence
Black girls
Depression
Gender
Racial identity
Racial socialization