Researcher: J'Mag Karbeah (School of Public Health)

Abstract: The United States is facing an urgent youth mental health crisis with nearly a third of youth reporting that they’ve experienced poor mental health (e.g. depression, suicidal ideation, and completed suicides) with the largest increases being increase in among Black girls ages 10-17. Research suggests that the association between experiences of racial discrimination and adverse mental health is often mediated by positive ethnic racial identity formation and socialization. To date, no studies have looked concurrently at how racial socialization, gendered socialization, and ethnic identity formation may mitigate the mental health impacts of racial discrimination. To address the mental health crisis facing Black youth, research is needed to better understand how intersectional identities shape mental health outcomes when adolescents experience racial discrimination. Understanding these relationships may inform ways to reduce the impacts of racial discrimination and offer support for interventions aimed at bolstering positive racial, ethnic, and gender socialization.