Poster #167 - Ethnic-racial Discrimination and Aggression in Childhood: The Mediating Role of Social Support

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Ethnic-racial discrimination refers to the unfair treatment of an individual based on race, skin color, ethnicity, language, or accent (Pachter, Szalacha, Bernstein, & Garcia-Coll, 2011). Ethnic-racial discrimination has been linked to negative outcomes, such as physical aggression, depression, and risk behaviors in adults and adolescents (Tobler et al., 2012), but little is known about the effects of discrimination and the factors that may mediate those effects in early development. For example, although evidence suggests that experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination predict aggressive behavior in late development (Caldwell, et al., 2004), this study extends previous literature by evaluating children’s perceived social support as a hypothesized mediator of the prospective relation between ethnic-racial discrimination and aggressive behavior in young children.
Participants included 224 children (50% female; 45.5% Latinx) who reported on their experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination at age 7 (Mage = 7.1313 years, SD =.227) using the Perceptions of Racism in Children and Youth (Pachter, Szalacha, Bernstein, & Garcia-Coll, 2011). At age 8, children reported on their social support from peers, parents, and teachers using the People In My Life scale (ICC = .878; Harter & Pike, 1984). At ages 7 and 10, caregivers reported on children’s aggressive behavior (ICCage 7 = .740, ICCage 10 = .753; Crick & Dodge, 1990). Mediation analyses controlling for child gender, socioeconomic status, IQ, and prior aggression revealed a significant indirect effect of perceived ethnic-racial discrimination at age 7 on increased aggression from ages 7 to 10 via the child’s perceptions of social support at age 8 (Preacher & Hayes, 2002; See Table 1).
These findings demonstrate that social support is one mechanism by which children’s experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination may eventuate in aggressive behaviors. Ongoing analyses are needed to evaluate whether specific sources of social support (e.g., peers, parents, teachers) are differentially salient for understanding relations between early ethnic-racial discrimination and childhood aggression. Nevertheless, the current study highlights the potential value of interventions to promote social support as a tool for redressing the negative effects of ethnic-racial discrimination in development.

Authors

• Alfredo Junior Bolanos, University of California, Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Brianne R Coulombe, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ana Kamille Marcelo, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuppett M Yates, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author