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Discrimination and Mental Health in a Representative Sample of African-American and Afro-Caribbean Youth

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Racism and discrimination are psychosocial stressors that affect the health of minority populations. While discrimination has been associated with poor mental health, little is known about the relationship between discrimination and mental health outcomes in youth nationally. Furthermore, mental and behavioral health consequences of discrimination may differ in different minority groups.

Objective

The goal of this study is to determine (1) how common perceptions of discrimination are in a nationally representative sample of African-American (AA) and Afro-Caribbean (AC) teens, (2) the relationship between discrimination and mental health conditions, and (3) whether discrimination has different associations with mental health in AA and AC youth.

Design

Cross-sectional comparison study

Setting

National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement, a nationwide sample of African-American and Afro-Caribbean youth drawn from a nationally representative household survey of AA and AC population

Participants

One thousand, one hundred and seventy AA and AC youth between 13 and 17 years

Exposure

Experiences with discrimination (Everyday Discrimination Scale)

Main Outcomes

Lifetime and past 12-month major depression and anxiety

Results

Ninety percent of AA and 87% of AC youth experienced discrimination. Discrimination was significantly associated with lifetime and 12-month major depression and lifetime and 12-month anxiety. There were no differences in the associations between discrimination and mental health between AA and AC youth except for lifetime anxiety: as discrimination increased, the likelihood of lifetime anxiety disorder increased at a higher rate among AC youth compared to AA.

Conclusions

Discrimination is a common psychosocial stressor in African-American and Afro-Caribbean youth. It is associated with poor mental health outcomes. There was no difference in the occurrence of discrimination between African-American and Afro-Caribbean youth or in its mental health consequences.

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Abbreviations

AA:

African-American

AC:

Afro-Caribbean

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Funding

The first author’s work on this study was in part supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number U54-GM104941.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Nemours/AI duPont Hospital for Children, 1600 Rockland Road, Wilmington, DE, 19803, USA

    Lee M. Pachter

  2. Research Center for Group Dynamics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Cleopatra H. Caldwell

  3. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    James S. Jackson

  4. Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Bruce A. Bernstein

Authors
  1. Lee M. Pachter
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  2. Cleopatra H. Caldwell
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  3. James S. Jackson
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  4. Bruce A. Bernstein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lee M. Pachter.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Standards

All procedures used were in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the dataset this study is based on. This study included secondary data analysis from a national dataset and therefore local IRB determined that the present analysis did not need internal review board approval at the author’s institution.

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Pachter, L.M., Caldwell, C.H., Jackson, J.S. et al. Discrimination and Mental Health in a Representative Sample of African-American and Afro-Caribbean Youth. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 5, 831–837 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0428-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0428-z

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