Future Directions in Research on Racism-Related Stress and Racial-Ethnic Protective Factors for Black Youth

Abstract

Research on racism-related stress and racial-ethnic protective factors represents an important enterprise for optimizing the mental health of African American and other racial and ethnic minority youth. However, there has been a relative dearth of work on these factors in the clinical psychology research literature, and more work is needed in outlets such as these. To this end, the current article adopts a developmental psychopathology framework and uses recent empirical findings to outline our current understanding of racism-related stress and racial-ethnic protective factors (i.e., racial identity, racial socialization, Africentric worldview) for African American youth. We then provide nine recommendations—across basic, applied, and broader/cross-cutting research lines—that we prioritize as essential to advancing the future scientific investigation of this crucial research agenda. Within and across these recommendations, we issue a charge to researchers and clinicians alike, with the ultimate goal of alleviating the negative mental health impact that racism-related stress can have on the well-being and mental health of African American and other racial and ethnic minority youth.

Notes

¹ Please note that we have chosen to use the word perceived here intentionally. Because of the nuanced ways in which racism is displayed, most scholars discuss perceived discrimination and prejudice, a phenomenological experience of the individual or group, rather than establishing “objective” measures of such experiences.