Discriminatory Experiences Among Black Youth: How Encounters and Expectations Explain Emotional Well-Being (2024)

Perceived Racial Discrimination and Mental Health

Perceived racial discrimination, which is biased and unjust treatment based on one’s racial identity (Assari et al., 2019), can result in poor mental and physical health outcomes for Black youth (Kirkinis et al., 2018). More specifically, experienced discrimination has been associated with depressive symptoms (Seaton & Yip, 2009), decreased self-esteem (Seaton et al., 2010), and increased suicidal thoughts (Walker et al., 2014, 2017). Studies have shown the widespread prevalence of racial discrimination among Black youth; reports typically increased during middle and late adolescence (Umaña-Taylor, 2016). For instance, research suggests that during early adolescence anywhere from 10% (Nagata et al., 2021) to 38% (Roberts et al., 2012) of Black youth experienced at least some racial discrimination. However, during mid to late adolescence, the proportions were as low as 22% (McNeil Smith & Fincham, 2015), but leaned more toward higher proportions such as 62.5% (Sellers et al., 2006) or even 89% of youth (Roberts et al., 2012). The complexity in these issues is furthered by youths’ ability to perceive discrimination (Cunningham et al., 2019) and the increase in stereotyping of African Americans by White and Black youth (Copping et al., 2013) during adolescence. Therefore, both mental health problems as well as the ability to perceive racial aggressions increase during the same developmental period and likely reinforce each other, which ultimately further exacerbates mental health disparities in adulthood due to its cumulative consequences.

Despite the well-established relationship between discrimination and mental health, there are relatively few studies on the influence discrimination has on social-emotional development, such as emotion regulation and prosocial behavior (Riley et al., 2021). Because discrimination is an emotion-eliciting experience, it compels people who have experienced it to be adaptive (Riley et al., 2021). One challenge in parsing out the impact of racial discrimination on social-emotional development is that it can be considered both an outcome (e.g., Padilla‐Walker et al., 2012) and a protective factor (Raposa et al., 2016; Taylor et al., 2017; Troy & Mauss, 2011). For instance, in the context of discrimination and emotion regulation, that could mean that the better someone’s emotion control is, the less likely there is to have suicidal ideation in response to experiencing discrimination. However, that could also mean that the more discrimination someone experiences, the harder it is for an individual to control emotions like anger, sadness, or fear.

Understanding the direction of the relationship between discrimination and prosocial behaviors is also challenging to deconstruct. Prosocial behaviors are what foster positive relationships and without them could lead to marginalization and social exclusion (Davis & Carlo, 2019). In one study, Lozada et al. (2017) found that school-based discrimination actually increased prosocial behaviors in Black male adolescents and theorized it was because there is an expectation for youth to organize and act in their community. In another study, but with Latino youth, Davis et al. (2021) found that the direction of the relationship between discrimination and prosocial behavior depended on whether prosocial behaviors were conducted publicly or altruistically (Davis et al., 2021). As research continues to progress in this topic, it is important to continue considering the relationship between social-emotional development, such as prosocial development, and poor mental health outcomes because it is crucial to understand how discrimination impacts the whole child (Davis et al., 2021).

Anticipated Racial Discrimination and Well-Being

Extensive literature underpins the impact of experienced discrimination on mental health; however, less is known about how anticipated discrimination influences well-being. Anticipated or expectations of racial discrimination is the notion that one will be discriminated against because of one’s racial background (Herda, 2016). Anticipated racial discrimination derives from cultural racism. Williams et al. (2019) described cultural racism as “the instillation of the ideology of inferiority in the values, language, imagery, symbols, and unstated assumptions of the larger society” (p. 110). Furthermore, cultural racism constitutes a society where systemic racism reinforces macro- and micro-levels of discrimination. In other words, cultural racism may generate beliefs among people of color that magnify chronic fear, anticipation, and stress of societal prejudice and discrimination because of one’s racial identity. Scholars argue that in addition to experienced discrimination, more empirical studies on anticipated discrimination are needed to better understand the link between discrimination and well-being (Herda, 2016).

Recent studies indicated that anticipated racial discrimination has important implications for youth mental well-being. For instance, Zimmerman and Miller-Smith (2021) explored the relevance of anticipated racial discrimination for depression and suicidal behavior among a diverse youth sample from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. They found that anticipated racial discrimination was positively associated with major depressive disorder and suicidal behavior. Additionally, Black and Hispanic youth were disproportionately exposed to racial discrimination, with Black youth reporting the highest level of experienced and anticipated discrimination followed by Hispanic youth. These findings suggest that anticipated racial discrimination is highly relevant for Black youth, and research needs to understand the effect it has on other dimensions of well-being in addition to depression and suicidality.

Present Study

The purpose of this study is to examine the relevance of discrimination to internalizing behaviors, including anxiety/depression, suicidal thoughts, and social-emotional development, specifically emotion regulation, and prosocial behavior. In addition, while research has been conducted predominantly in large metropolitan Black-majority communities (e.g., Seaton & Yip, 2009), less empirical data is available on Black youth living in less densely populated areas. To fill this gap, this study utilizes data from Black youth that lived in small cities and rural areas.

The current study assessed how discrimination experienced in the past year was associated with higher levels of internalizing problems, specifically anxiety/depression and suicidal thoughts, and lower levels of social-emotional development, including emotion regulation and prosocial behavior. Next, we tested whether anticipation of discrimination contributed to similar patterns among Black youth. Finally, we tested whether discriminatory experiences or expectations had independent effects on youth outcomes.

Participants

Youth (n = 1,860 students) in 10th and 12th grades responded to the Youth Experience Survey. Only the data from youth who identified as Black/African American were included in the analysis. Specifically, youth were asked, “Please choose the ONE answer that BEST describes what you consider yourself to be: (a) White, (b) Black, African American or African, (c) Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin, (d) American Indian or Alaska Native, (e) Asian, (f) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, (g) Multiracial or biracial, or (h) Other.” Across eight schools, 1435 Black youth or 70.15% of the total sample (56.57% female; 56.40% 10th grade) 10th and 12th grades responded to the Youth Experience Survey.

Measures

Procedure

Guardians were informed about the survey and had the option to abstain from participation. Students in 10th grade and 12th grade across eight schools were administered the Youth Experience Survey during the school day in a single testing session. For one testing site, data collection was in the fall, and for the other two sites, data collection was in the spring. The schools had a majority black student population (M = 88.19%, SD = 18.17%) which ranged from 56.00 to 100% Black. Students did not receive any direct benefits for their participation.

Plan of Analyses

Three models were created for each outcome of the four outcomes: internalizing problems (anxiety/depression, suicidal thoughts) and social-emotional development (prosocial behavior, emotion regulation). A series of either hierarchical linear or hierarchical logistic regressions were performed where step 1 controlled for site and step 2 tested how age, gender, experienced discrimination, and the two interaction terms were associated with internalizing problems (anxiety/depression, suicidal thoughts) and social-emotional development (prosocial behavior, emotion regulation). Then another series of analyses were performed to test how after controlling for site, how age, gender, expected discrimination, and its interaction terms also contributed to the same outcomes. Finally, another series used the same models but combined experienced and expected discrimination together in the same step to test whether one form of discrimination contributed more to each of the four outcomes than the other. See Table ​Table22 for analyses on experienced discrimination, Table ​Table33 for analyses of expected discrimination experiences, and Table ​Table44 for the combined model.

Participants’ experiences with racism were lower than what has been reported in other studies (Appendix). While 71.11% expected their race to make it harder to get ahead in life, 31.57% said they were treated badly because of their race, and 45.10% said they experienced negative discrimination. Descriptive statistics for all measures are presented in Table ​Table1.1. Bivariate correlations investigated the simple associations among variables, including whether age and gender needed to be controlled for in the main analyses (see Table ​Table1).1). Results indicated that gender significantly positively correlated with anxiety/depression and prosocial behavior, but it correlated negatively with emotion regulation. In addition, age correlated positively with emotion regulation. Consequently, age and experienced discrimination were centered to account for multicollinearity, and interaction terms between age × experienced discrimination, and gender × experienced discrimination were created. The same process was done for expected discrimination. No significant interactions were detected for any of the four emotional state measures. Consequently, the reported main results are based on the regression analyses conducted without the hypothesized interaction terms in each model.

Internalizing Problems

Social-Emotional Development

Limitations

These findings need to be considered in the context of some limitations. First, could be the use of single-item assessment. Both suicidal thoughts and expected discrimination were captured with a single item. The value in a single-item assessment is that it permits more time to capture other constructs and can reduce the chances of fatigue on participants. Additionally, research supports that many single-item assessments are in agreement with their multi-item subscales (Verster et al., 2021). However, according to Verster and colleagues, single items do not often have good agreement with full scales that tend to by multifaceted with several subscales. Additionally, they are not ideal in situations of diagnosing patients. For instance, one study found that a single item on suicide ideation can overestimate those truly experiencing suicidal thoughts by 8% (Millner et al., 2015). However, given that this study was not designed for patient intervention, having a single item capture suicide ideation is less of a concern.

A third limitation is the cross-sectional nature of the design. A longitudinal design would have permitted the test in a mediation model to understand how something such as social-emotional development could mediate the relationship between different forms of discrimination and poor mental health outcomes. The use of a cross-sectional design could have obscured the direction of effects implied by the regression analyses. For instance, while the results support that expected discrimination could be detrimental for both internalizing problems and social-emotional development it is also possible that internalizing problems and challenges with social-emotional development might increase the concern that one’s race might interfere in their future.

Implications for Community Prevention Systems

Data from this study support that racial discrimination is a risk factor not only for poor mental health outcomes like suicidal thoughts, but it also impacts protective factors around social-emotional development that mitigate negative daily experiences. Consequently, this study validates the importance of any needs assessment or epidemiological survey examining a broad range of risks/protection/and outcomes. For instance, the website Blueprints for Healthy Youth and Development (https://www.blueprintsprograms.org/) was broadened from focusing only on violence prevention to five outcome domains: problem behavior, education, physical health, emotional well-being, and positive relationships. The website organizes information such that it specifies which risk and protective factors are associated with these outcomes, highlighting the importance of this approach. Therefore, programs addressing racial discrimination should consider how risk and protective factors can relate when addressing youth mental health.

These findings also reinforce the importance in addressing systemic racism. Youth from the current study were from majority Black communities which could in part explain why youth were less optimistic about their future than those who experienced discrimination first hand. Yet, despite this, there still appears to be a consistently negative impact of racial discrimination on a range of outcomes. Future studies should focus on communities where Black youth are not the largest minority group to better understand how discrimination impact mental health outcomes. While evidence-based programs could use a risk and protective factor approach to improve youth outcomes, it is best to address the root cause: racial discrimination in the system. Brody et al. (2006) suggest that “those at the receiving end of discrimination can, overtime, come to internalize the discrimination view” (p. 1183). In addition, since the context in which these discriminatory experiences occurred was not asked about, it is challenging to know if youth in this study experienced discrimination in community settings, such as retail stores or schools, where they are likely to encountered non-Black personnel. However, regardless of which systems experiences took place, the data from this study demonstrates that expectations about systemic racism can have an equally detrimental impact on adolescents’ mental well-being.

The push for equitable services must continue to persist. It is impossible to predict the magnitude that eliminating discriminatory experiences for Black youth could have on their mental health and life trajectory. It could begin with youth connecting more to their community or having increased self-worth. However, in the long term, it may lead to reduced incarceration, homelessness, comorbidities, and even Medicare spending.

Future Directions

These findings lend to future considerations around measurement quality, moderators, and the developmental impact of discrimination. The frequency and intensity of racially motivated experiences is only going to be detected to the extent that the measure tolerates. In a meta-analysis on the impact of discrimination on well-being during adolescence, 40 measures on racial discrimination were used (Benner et al., 2018). Therefore, just as it was suggested in Benner et al., more measurement work is still needed to understand the complexity of racial discrimination (e.g., timing, perpetrator, experienced vs. witnessed). For instance, the impact may be different whether these interactions are with peers, administrators, sales associates, or law enforcement. Future research on this topic should also employ cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. These types of designs could elucidate how events (e.g., Brianna Taylor) impact youth both in the immediate and long terms, but also to better understand the cumulative effect of perceived systematic discriminatory incidents in the lived experiences of school-aged youth. These approaches would establish developmental approaches that better serve younger children, younger adolescents, older adolescents, and youth transitioning to adulthood in dealing with the deleterious impacts of discrimination on well-being and identity. In addition, more research is needed on how experiences of discrimination shape youths’ cognitions about their self-efficacy so that it can be addressed in interventions until health equity is created.

Research needs to investigate the impact of racial discrimination over the lifespan. In other words, are there differential outcomes for youth who report lower levels of racial discrimination during the adolescent years compared to youth that report higher levels of racial discrimination? Similarly, it should not be assumed that the types of racial discrimination experienced during adolescence are the same experienced as youth transition to adulthood or in stages of adulthood. Racial discrimination in public schools may be qualitatively different than those experiences at college/university or the workforce. Longitudinal research may facilitate an understanding, and this work needs to involve both quantitative and qualitative approaches to better understand the life impact of discrimination for the Black community.

Appendix. Proportion of Black Adolescents who Experienced Discrimination

Ethics Approval

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. This IRB protocol number assigned to this study for raw data collection was by Washington University no. 40396 and then later became STUDY00001085 after conversion to the Zipline system. The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine IRB gave this study (19–531) a Non-Human Subjects Research Determination.

Informed Consent

For this type of study, formal consent was not required.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

The original online version of this article was revised due to a retrospective Open Access order.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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