From Racial Discrimination to Substance Use: The Buffering Effects of Racial Socialization

The experience of race-based discrimination may place African American youth at risk for substance use initiation and substance use disorders. This article examines the potential of parental racial socialization—a process by which parents convey messages to their children about race—to protect against the impact of racial discrimination on substance use outcomes. Focusing on stress as a major precipitating factor in substance use, the article postulates several possible mechanisms by which racial socialization might reduce stress and the subsequent risk for substance use. It discusses future research directions with the goal of realizing the promise of racial socialization as a resilience factor in African American and ethnic minority youth mental health

The Associations Between Internalized Racism, Racial Identity, and Psychological Distress

Internalized racism, or the acceptance of negative stereotypes about one’s own racial group, is associated with psychological distress; yet, few studies have explored the longitudinal impact of internalized racism on the psychological well-being of African American emerging adults. Furthermore, racial identity’s role as a protective factor in the context of internalized racism remains unclear. This study examined the longitudinal impact of internalized racism on psychological distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and the moderating role of racial identity beliefs among 171 African American emerging adults. Full cross-lagged panel models revealed no main effects of internalized racism beliefs on psychological distress. However, several racial identity beliefs moderated the relationship between internalized racism beliefs and changes in psychological distress over a year later. Initial levels of alteration of physical appearance, internalization of negative stereotypes, and hair change internalized racism beliefs were related to subsequent psychological distress, but only for those with certain levels of racial centrality, private regard, public regard, and assimilationist, humanist, and nationalist ideology beliefs. These findings suggest that, over time, internalized racism and racial identity beliefs can combine to influence the psychological well-being of African American emerging adults

Social cognition and African American men: The roles of perceived discrimination and experimenter race on task performance

The Social Cognition Psychometric Evaluation (SCOPE) study consists of a battery of eight tasks selected to measure social-cognitive deficits in individuals with schizophrenia. The battery is currently in a multisite validation process. While the SCOPE study collects basic demographic data, more nuanced race-related factors might artificially inflate cross-cultural differences in social cognition. As an initial step, we investigated whether race, independent of mental illness status, affects performance on the SCOPE battery. Thus, we examined the effects of perceived discrimination and experimenter race on the performance of 51 non-clinical African American men on the SCOPE battery. Results revealed that these factors impacted social cognitive task performance. Specifically, participants performed better on a skills-based task factor in the presence of Black experimenters, and frequency of perceived racism predicted increased perception of hostility in negative interpersonal situations with accidental causes. Thus, race-related factors are important to identify and explore in the measurement of social cognition in African Americans

Underlying mechanisms in the relationship between Africentric worldview and depressive symptoms.

This study examines underlying mechanisms in the relationship between an Africentric worldview and depressive symptoms. Participants were 112 African American young adults. An Africentric worldview buffered the association between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. The relationship between an Africentric worldview and depressive symptoms was mediated by perceived stress and emotion-focused coping. These findings highlight the protective function of an Africentric worldview in the context of African Americans’ stress experiences and psychological health and offer promise for enhancing African American mental health service delivery and treatment interventions

The Moderating Capacity of Racial Identity Between Perceived Discrimination and Psychological Well-Being Over Time Among African American Youth: Discrimination and Well-Being

The present study examined the influence of racial identity in the longitudinal relationship between perceptions of racial discrimination and psychological well-being for approximately 560 African American youth. Latent curve modeling (LCM) and parallel process multiple-indicator LCMs with latent moderators were used to assess whether perceptions of racial discrimination predicted the intercept (initial levels) and the slope (rate of change) of psychological well-being over time, and whether racial identity moderates these relationships. The results indicated that African American adolescents who reported higher psychological responses to discrimination frequency levels at the first time point had lower initial levels of well-being. Regressing the slope factor for psychological well-being on frequency of discrimination also revealed a non-significant result for subsequent well-being levels

Religious Development in African American Adolescents: Growth Patterns That Offer Protection

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147773/1/cdev12896_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147773/2/cdev12896.pd

Racial identity and coping in context: First -year African American college students' lifetime experiences with racism.

Racial identity, or the significance and meaning that individuals attribute to race, is recognized as a key factor in how African Americans cope with racism experiences. Unfortunately, however, the few studies that have examined African Americans' responses to racist events have failed to account for differences across situations that African Americans experience, making it difficult to ascertain whether differences in coping are due to person variables, the situation, or both. In the present study, we adopted a stress and coping approach to examine the relations among racial identity, racism-related stress appraisal, and coping with lifetime racism experiences in a sample of 301 African American first-year college students. Participants were recruited from three predominately White Universities and one historically Black university. Students completed measures of racial identity, appraisal, and coping in small group administrations during their first semester of college. Participants were compensated for their participation in the study. To test the relations among the key study variables, a series of univariate analyses of variance (ANOVA) was estimated. I found that situational dimensions of racist events were related to appraisal and coping. Racial identity was related to appraisal and appraisal was related to coping, but these relations differed for men and women. Specifically, racial identity was related to appraisal for men, while appraisal was related to coping for women. I found some evidence of relations between racial identity and coping, but these relations did not hold when I accounted for differences across situations. Conclusions regarding the mediation effects of appraisal were inconclusive. The study findings suggest an interplay between person factors and situational characteristics of racist situations to determine how African Americans appraise and cope with racist situations. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of person-environment interactions that influence coping. Additionally, I discuss the implications of the findings for African American health. Although the face of racism has evolved over time, the significance and meaning that African Americans ascribe to race and perceptions of racist incidents are likely to play a critical role in protecting health against the harmful effects of racism.Ph.D.Black studiesClinical psychologyPsychologySocial SciencesSocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/125723/2/3208522.pd

Measuring institutional and structural racism in research on adolescence and developmental science

Dismantling racism and oppression in adolescence requires sound measurement and rigorous methods. In this commentary, we discuss the measurement of institutional and structural racism and approaches to operationalizing structures and systems in adolescent research. Drawing on a recent framework for the conceptualization, measurement, and analysis of institutional racism and health (Needham et al., Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, in press), we highlight several considerations for measuring institutional and structural racism. These include definitional issues, the tension between individual- and area-level measures, questions of timing, and matters of design and analysis. We conclude with suggestions to address gaps in existing literature and call for transdisciplinary training, collaboration, and partnership to promote the healthy development of Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) adolescents and young people.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175489/1/jora12810.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175489/2/jora12810_am.pd

Ethnic differences in associations among popularity, likability, and trajectories of adolescents' alcohol use and frequency

Two-part latent growth models examined associations between two forms of peer status (popularity, likability) and adolescents' alcohol use trajectories throughout high school; ethnicity was examined as a moderator. Ninth-grade low-income adolescents (N=364; M-age=15.08; 52.5% Caucasian; 25.8% African American; 21.7% Latino) completed sociometric nominations of peer status and aggression at baseline, and reported their alcohol use every 6months. After controlling for gender, aggression, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, popularitybut not likabilityprospectively predicted alcohol use trajectories. However, these effects were moderated by ethnicity, suggesting popularity as a risk factor for alcohol use probability and frequency among Caucasian and Latino, but not African American adolescents. Results suggest that developmental correlates of peer status should be considered within cultural context