NCJ Number
226603
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 519-531
Date Published
April 2009
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined the longitudinal association between perceptions of racism and depressive symptoms.
Abstract
Findings suggest that experiences with racism can have long lasting consequences for female African-American adolescents’ mood. It is important to include experiences with racism and discrimination when assessing exposure to stress. The necessary strategies for intervention were determined to include: eliminating the stressor, changing how the stressor is perceived, and enhancing resources for managing the stressor. It may not be possible to eliminate encounters with racism and because ethnic minority youth’s experiences with racism are common, practitioners should assess the nature of youth’s experiences with racism, how they perceive and respond to this stressor, and their resources for managing this type of stress. It should be recognized that African-American adolescents’ experience of and response to racism vary along several dimensions, including chronicity and severity of exposure to racism, appraisal of racism experiences, support for coping with racism, and the source of the racist experience. Additionally findings suggest that the experience of racism can result in decrements in perceived academic control, which in turn can have negative consequences for adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the importance of assessing school racial climate and perceptions of racial fairness as each have been linked with student achievement and behavior. Data were collected from 500 middle school students initially assessed in the fall of first grade as part of an evaluation of 2 school-based preventive interventions whose immediate targets were early learning and aggressive behavior in first grade. Table, figure, and references