Story at a glance
- Many Black youth face online racial discrimination, which contirbutes to poor immediate and long-term mental health.
- In a new study, researchers outline the actions clinicians can take to address this problem.
- These include improving racial literacy training and effective communication skills.
The advent of the Internet and subsequent rise of social media has dramatically changed the ways in which many people communicate.
However, new and easier communication methods have also enabled online trolling, discrimination, and hate messaging. Now, research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry details to what extent Black youth face online race-based discrimination, and what effect this has on adolescents’ mental health.
Results of the longitudinal study, which included 18,454 daily assessments from 602 youth, showed one in two Black participants faced racial discimination that led to worse same- and next-day mental health.
Of the 602 participants, 351 were Black. Of the white participants, only about one in four experienced at least one instance of online racial discrimination. However, these instances did not lead to similar mental health ramifications among white youth.
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Fifty-eight percent of the study population were Black, and assessments took place over 58 days between March and November 2020–a time period that corresponded to heightened racial tension in the United States.
Protests were common during these months, sparked in part by the May 2020 murder of Geogre Floyd. Young Americans also spent more time online during the study window due to COVID-19 restrictions and the transition to virtual learning.
Mean participant age was 15, and the cohort was nationally representative of the U.S. population.
“This study showed us the need for programs to decrease online hate crimes as well as procedures by health providers – pediatricians, psychiatrists and others – to mitigate negative mental health effects such as online racial discrimination,” said study co-author Ming-Te Wang of the University of Pittsburg in a press release.
The authors also concluded that increases in racial discimination experienced at this time “were not fully explained by time spent online nor general cybervictimization experiences.”
Findings showed an increase in discrimination experienced by this population compared with previous studies, as research conducted between March and June 2020 found about two of every five Black adults reported at least one instance of online racial discrimination.
To address this uptick in online discrimination, researchers suggest clinicians recieve training on culturally sensitive assessments in addition to effective communication skills. Mental health professionals may also want to undergo racial literacy training to help adolescents cope with racial events.
“These findings have immediate implications for clinical practice,” added co-author Juan Del Toro, also of the University of Pittsburgh.
“Adolescents’ chronic exposure to online settings may exacerbate racial disparities in health considering the present study found a negative impact of racial discrimination on Black youths’ but not White youths’ mental health.”
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