The Impact of Skin Tone, Racial Solidarity, and Centrality on Black Emerging Adults’ Psychosocial Outcomes

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Intersectional Supports and the Creation of Wide-Ranging Educational Possibilities (Table 9)

Abstract

The present study uses an intersectional within-group approach (skin tone and racial solidarity) to investigate the moderating impact of centrality on Black college students’ rates of depression, anxiety, and stress. We sampled 304 Black college students ( 71.1% Dark Skin; 70.2% Female; 56.0% 1st & 2nd year ) to deploy an intra-categorical, intersectional, descriptive-analytic approach, using ANOVA and multivariate linear regression techniques. Despite findings from previous research, results indicate no skin tone or racial solidarity variation in rates of depression, anxiety, or stress. Results do demonstrate skin tone and racial solidarity main effects for centrality. Implications for the dark skin tone and poor mental health outcomes narrative and future research are discussed

Authors

• Leanne Villareal, Boston University

• Adaurennaya C. Onyewuenyi, The College of New Jersey