The impact of everyday discrimination on adolescents’ school related behaviors

• In Event: Links Between Youth Contexts and Learning Opportunities: Structural Systems, Culture, and Everyday Experiences

Abstract

Adolescents who report experiencing discrimination are more likely to be absent from school, engage in substance use, and subsequently experience various other forms of psychopathology (Brody, Kogan, & Chen, 2012; Felice, 1981). These outcomes related to
discrimination are potentially even more adverse for marginalized groups, such as racial minorities, who experience higher rates of discrimination as compared to majority groups. However, it is unclear what the immediate impact of experiencing discrimination is, as the majority of previous studies on discrimination are correlational in nature and rely heavily on retrospective reports of discrimination, which may be prone to recall bias.

To address these methodological limitations, the present study utilized ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) to assess the impact of daily instances of discrimination on school-related behaviors in 395 adolescents (Mage = 12.36, SD = 1.12). The participants are part of a larger longitudinal study first enrolled between 3rd -6th grade (N = 2,104). Surveys were triggered three times a day(morning, afternoon, and evening) over 14 days with adolescents reporting on school-related behaviors including those regarding low conscientiousness (completing assignments, paying
attention during class, talking during class) and problem behaviors (talking back to teachers, and
getting in trouble at school). To test hypotheses that discrimination would result in lower levels of conscientiousness and more problem behaviors on the same day and the following day, we conducted multilevel models, adjusting for gender, age, minority status, daily peer hassles, and daily family hassles, and, in lagged models, adjusting for problem behaviors or low conscientiousness from the previous day. We also tested whether the effect of discrimination varied as a function of age or under-represented minority status.
In fully adjusted models, discrimination on one day increased the odds of problem behaviors the following day (OR = 2.22, p<.05). This effect was significantly larger for under-represented groups than for White youth (OR = 5.67, p<.05). Discrimination was not significantly associated with low conscientiousness (either the same or following day) or with same-day problem behaviors. These results add to the growing body of literature highlighting the adverse effects of discrimination, especially for those individuals who are under-represented, on school-related behavioral outcomes. Further examination of the neighborhood context in which both the discrimination occurs as well as in which the school is located is warranted to help further our understanding of the impacts of discrimination on school-related behaviors.

Authors

• Anika Khan, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Sara R Jaffee, University of Pennsylvania