Abstract
There is a dearth of research examining internalized racism especially among child and adolescent populations. The present study examined whether internalized racism predicted daily depressive symptoms among a sample of Black adolescents. The current study utilized the daily diary method among a sample of 103 Black adolescents ranging in age from 14 to 18 with an average age of 16. Youth completed measures of internalized racism and depressive symptoms. The results indicate that high levels of self-hatred increase Black American adolescents’ vulnerability for depressive symptoms, with marginal support for similar effects of miseducation. The results were not significant for assimilation on depressive symptoms, which warrants further investigation. The dimensions of internalized racism have implications for negative mental health outcomes among Black adolescents.
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Notes
The term Black American refers to individuals of African descent in the USA including the descendants of enslaved Africans, Caribbean Blacks and their descendants, and African immigrants and their descendants.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge all members of the Racial Experiences of Youth Laboratory (REYLAB) for their assistance.
Funding
This project was partially funded by the generous support of the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation to the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Program on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO).
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Informed consent was obtained from all parents and legal guardians, and individual participants included in the study.
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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Seaton, E.K., Iida, M. & Morris, K. The Impact of Internalized Racism on Daily Depressive Symptoms Among Black American Adolescents. ADV RES SCI 3, 201–208 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-022-00061-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-022-00061-1