Different Sources of Social Support on the Associations Between Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Adolescent Mental Health.

• In Event: Discrimination, Identity, and the Health of Racially Minoritized Youth

Abstract

Empirical research has consistently found deleterious impacts of racial/ethnic discrimination on individuals’ health, especially among racial/ethnic minoritized individuals (Benner et al., 2018; Pascoe & Richman, 2009). Racial/ethnic discrimination worries have also been found to also have a harmful impact on adolescents’ outcomes (Zimmerman & Miller-Smith, 2022; Herda & McCarthy 2018). The risk and resilience framework suggests social support as a salient asset for adolescents that help them overcome risk (Zimmerman et al., 2013). For instance, studies have found various sources of social support to mitigate the negative associations between racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescent outcomes (Wang et al., 2018; Cooper et al., 2013; Brody et al., 2006). However, to my knowledge no study has investigated the potential mitigating role of extended family members, which are influential members of minoritized social networks, in addition to other sources of social support. Thus, the current study examined whether different sources of social support (i.e., immediate family members, extended family members, and nonfamilial sources of social support) function as protective factors against the positive associations of both racial/ethnic discrimination experiences and worries with adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms among a sample of Black and Hispanic adolescents. Differences in these associations based on race/ethnicity were also explored.
The current study used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). The total sample included 835 self-identified Black and Hispanic adolescents (Mage = 15.2, SD = 1.58; 50.9 % female, 49.1% male). More specifically, using only wave 3 data, in cohort 9 there were 180 Black and 243 Hispanic adolescents and in cohort 12 there were 188 Black and 224 Hispanic adolescents. Both path and multiple group analyses were conducted using Mplus (Version 8.6). These analyses also accounted for several covariates including adolescent age, household income, parental education, adolescent race, and adolescent gender. In line with previous findings, results showed that racial/ethnic discrimination experiences were associated with more internalizing (β = .18, p < .001) and externalizing symptoms (β = .19, p < .001). However, racial/ethnic discrimination worries were only associated with more internalizing symptoms (β = .12, p < .01). There were no significant multigroup differences by sources of support nor by race/ethnicity. There were, however, direct relations between sources of support and adolescent behaviors with adolescents who indicated having immediate family member social support having fewer externalizing symptoms (β = -.07, p < .05) than those who did not have immediate family support. In contrast, extended family member support and nonfamilial social support were associated with more externalizing symptoms (β = .07, p < .05). Lastly, nonfamilial social support was associated with more internalizing (β = .10, p < .01) and externalizing symptoms (β = .08, p < .05). Results highlight the need for more studies that explore various sources of social support and their impact on the association between risk factors such as racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescent mental health outcomes.

Authors

• Gloria Stout, The University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Fatima A. Varner, University of Texas at Austin