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School Racial/Ethnic Discrimination, Rule-Breaking Behavior and the Mediating Role of Trauma Reactions Among Latinx Adolescents

Wed, April 7, 11:35am to 1:05pm EDT (11:35am to 1:05pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Introduction: Youth of color experience greater exposure to violence (Sheats et al., 2018), which may be related to trauma reactions (e.g., hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, mood changes; Graham-Bermann, 2005). These may, in turn, relate to rule-breaking behaviors, including those that manifest within schools’ settings and contribute to out-of-school suspensions (Voisin, 2016). Existing research linking violence exposure to trauma reactions has typically focused on exposure to violence outside the school setting, failing to account for school discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or immigrant status. The latter is a detrimental form of racialized violence pervasive in the lives of Latinx youth (Barajas-Gonzales, 2018). Research has established a compelling link between racialized violence exposure and disruptions in psychological and behavioral functioning in youth of color. These associations may be explained by increased trauma reactions. Drawing from race-based trauma theory (Carter, 2007), the present study explored trauma reactions as a mediator of the longitudinal association between school racial/ethnic discrimination (from classmates and teachers) and rule-breaking behaviors among Latinx youth.
Methods: Three waves of data (each 6 months apart) were derived from a school-based sample of Latinx adolescents. Participants included 547 adolescents randomly selected from 14 middle schools in the southeastern U.S. At Wave 1 (W1), the sample included more females (55%), and youth’s average age was 12.80 (SD = 1.03). Most adolescents (88%) were born in the U.S. to immigrant parents. A list of constructs, instrumentation, and alpha coefficients are presented in Table 1. We used structural equation modeling in MPLUS (V8) to test whether W1 school discrimination predicted increases in W2 trauma reactions, and, in turn, increases in W3 rule-breaking behaviors. We controlled for relevant co-variates and W1 levels of trauma reactions and rule-breaking behaviors. Mediation analysis were tested using the Sobel test (Sobel, 2017). Lastly, we examined the stability of our findings across two social position variables (García Coll et al., 1996): youth gender and nativity.
Results: Findings (Figure 1) indicated that W1 school discrimination positively predicted W2 trauma reactions (β= .11 (.04), p < .01) and W2 trauma reactions positively predicted W3 rule-breaking behaviors (β = .27 (.05), p < .001). We also found a significant mediated effect of school discrimination on rule-breaking behaviors via increased trauma reactions (β = .03
,95% CI [-.006 -.087], p < .05). This effect is consistent with partial mediation, as W1 school discrimination had a remaining direct effect on W3 rule-breaking behaviors not accounted for by W2 trauma reactions (β = .35 (.05), p < .001). Further, results showed that our findings generalized across nativity status but not gender. Specifically, school discrimination was significantly related to trauma reactions for girls but not boys (βgirls =.19, (.05), p < .001; βboys= -.00 (.06), n.s).
Conclusions: Results of this study highlight that school racial/ethnic discrimination from classmates and teachers leads to higher levels of rule-breaking behaviors among Latinx students via psychological trauma reactions. Efforts aimed at reducing out-of-school suspensions, therefore, should invest in programs to reduce school racial/ethnic discrimination and increase access to trauma-informed prevention and intervention programs.

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