The experiences reported in the study, which ranged from teasing about physical appearance to overt discrimination, mainly occurred online and led to short-term increases in depressive symptoms.
Examples of discrimination included teasing by peers about wearing their natural hair, seeing jokes about their race online and witnessing a family member or friend being treated poorly due to their race or ethnicity.
“Racial teasing is important because it is one of the most common ways adolescents communicate about race,” Dr. English explained. “Critically, young people and adults, such as teachers, often see this teasing as harmless and choose not to address it. Our results, however, show several types of racial teasing are harmful for Black adolescents,” he said.
“Although public discourse can indirectly or directly blame health inequities on Black youth, our study provides evidence that racial discrimination in society is a fundamental cause of these health inequities,” Dr. English continued.
“Knowing this, people in positions of power such as clinicians, school administrators and policy makers have a responsibility to consider discrimination as a critical aspect of the daily experience and health of Black teens. Racial discrimination prevention should be a public health imperative.”