Online Racism and Mental Health Among Black American Adolescents in 2020

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 25 - 36.e8
• Main Authors: Del Toro, Juan, Wang, Ming-Te
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2023; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Adjustment; Administrator Surveys; Adolescent; Adolescents; African Americans; Anxiety; Black adolescent development; Black or African American; Caregivers; COVID-19; Discrimination; ecological momentary assessment; Ethnic Groups; Hate crimes; Health disparities; Humans; Internet; Likert scale; Likert Scales; Longitudinal Studies; Males; Mental Health; online racism; Pandemics; Pediatrics; Peer Group; Predictor Variables; Psychiatric/Mental Health; Psychiatrists; Race; Race relations; Racial discrimination; Racial Identification; Racism; Racism - psychology; Sampling; School closures; Social Media; Social networks; Stereotypes; Stress; Student Adjustment; Teenagers; United States; Validity; Victimization; United States; Black adolescent development; mental health; ecological momentary assessment; online racism
• ISSN: 0890-8567; 1527-5418; 1527-5418
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.07.004

To determine whether rates of online racial discrimination changed over the course of 2020 and their longitudinal effects on Black youths’ mental health. This longitudinal study collected 18,454 daily assessments from a nationally representative sample of 602 Black and White adolescents in the United States (58% Black, 42% White; mean age = 15.09 years, SD = 1.56 years) across 58 days during the heightened racial tensions between March and November 2020. Black youths experienced increases in online racial discrimination, and these increases were not fully explained by time spent online or by general cybervictimization experiences. Online racial discrimination predicted poorer same-day and next-day mental health among Black youths but not among White youths. Black youths’ mental health did not predict their online racial discrimination experiences. Online racial discrimination has implications for shaping mental health disparities that disadvantage Black youths relative to their White peers. Programs can be implemented to decrease online hate crimes, and health providers (eg, pediatricians, psychiatrists) should develop procedures that mitigate the negative mental health effects following online racial discrimination experiences.