Publication Date
10-1-2022
Journal
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Racial discrimination constitutes a significant risk factor for depressive symptoms among Black youth. Rumination, a maladaptive self-regulatory stress response, is a notable pathway by which racial discrimination contributes to depressive symptoms among racial/ethnic minority adults. Yet, examinations of the mechanistic nature of rumination in the context of racial discrimination among racial/ethnic minority youth remain limited. The present study investigated rumination as a mediator of the association between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among Black youth.
METHODS: Data for the current study were drawn from baseline questionnaire responses of community recruited Black pre-and-early adolescents (N = 158, 53% female, M
RESULTS: After adjusting for age and gender, mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of racial discrimination on depressive symptoms through rumination, estimate = 0.29, 95% confidence interval [0.12, 0.47]. Racial discrimination was positively associated with rumination (b = .74, SE = .23, p = .001), and rumination, in turn, was positively associated with depressive symptoms (b = .40, SE = .06, p < .001).
CONCLUSION: Consistent with previous research, we found racial discrimination to be directly and indirectly associated with depressive symptoms among Black youth. Findings provide evidence of the cognitive burden of discriminatory experiences and suggest that rumination represents a potential pathway that can be targeted at early developmental stages to reduce the deleterious impact of racism-related stressors.
Keywords
Racial Discrimination, Racism-Related Stress, Depression, Rumination, Black youth
Included in
Inequality and Stratification Commons, Medical Specialties Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Mental and Social Health Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons
Comments
PMID: 34410607