Racial Discrimination, Self-Hatred, and Neighborhood Context Among Black Girls: A Moderated Mediation Model

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Black girls reside at the intersection of racism and sexism, resulting in intersecting systems of oppression (Davis et al., 2015) and gendered experiences of racial discrimination. Accumulating evidence investigates the perpetrators and contexts related to racial discrimination among Black girls, often revealing similar harmful consequences when compared to Black boys (Leath et al., 2019). Despite facing harsh discipline, hair shame, and academic pushout, Black girls matter too; therefore, research, practice, and policy must give renewed attention to their experiences. It is crucial that greater visibility is given to Black girls, particularly through examination of racial discrimination and the subsequent impact on domains of racial identity and academic attitudes. Racial identity has been documented as a key mediator and moderator in the relation between racialized experiences and various outcomes among Black youth (Neblett et al., 2013; Seaton et al., 2014; Stokes et al., 2020), while the neighborhood context is evidenced as foundational in shaping risk behaviors, family outcomes, and academic attitudes (Byrd & Chavous, 2009; Wallace et al., 2017; Zalot et al., 2007). Data from the Daily Experiences of Race for Black Youth (DERBY) Study were analyzed to investigate self-hatred, a subscale of the Cross-Racial Identity Scale (CRIS), as a mediator in the relation between perceptions of adult perpetrated racial discrimination and impression management oppositional identity (IMOI) among Black girls. Additionally, this study investigated neighborhood context, as a moderator in the relation between racial discrimination and self-hatred, thus a moderated mediation model. Neighborhood context was operationalized as the racial composition of participants’ neighborhoods. The study examined these relations among 229 Black female adolescents, 13 to 19 years old. Results revealed that self-hatred mediated the relation between perceptions of adult perpetrated racial discrimination and impression management oppositional identity. Neighborhood context moderated the relation between perceptions of adult perpetrated racial discrimination and self-hatred. Specifically, findings suggest that among Black girls that reside in neighborhoods where Whites are not the majority racial-ethnic group (e.g., majority Black, no majority racial-ethnic group), the indirect effect of racial discrimination through self-hatred was associated with increased IMOI. This is one of few studies examining self-hatred among Black girls in relation to academic attitudes. While evidence demonstrates that racial discrimination is detrimental for academic attitudes among Black youth, more work is needed in identifying explanatory mechanisms that underlie this process and the confluence of racial context. Future research should examine a variety of perpetrators, like teachers and peers, in addition to school racial context, to investigate how these factors contribute to Black girls’ self-hatred. Black youth are at great risk for receiving discouraging messages about where they fit in academic spaces (Doll et al., 2013), therefore, more research is needed to examine how self-hatred relates to poorer academic attitudes for Black girls, who remain disproportionately ignored and devalued.

Authors

• Kamryn S Morris, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Eleanor K Seaton, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author