Child / Adolescent - Anxiety
Mallory R. Cotton, B.S., B.A.
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student
University of Houston
Dacula, Georgia
Haley Conroy Busch, M.A.
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate
University of Houston
Houston, Texas
Andres G. Viana, ABPP, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
University of Houston
Houston, Texas
Introduction: Racism-related stress among Black youth is positively associated with internalizing psychopathology such as anxiety and depressive symptoms. Parental racial socialization messages, which communicate the barriers and adversity faced by Black Americans, have been shown to both confer and buffer against risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms in Black youth. Despite these findings, extant literature has yet to elucidate the mechanisms that underly the association between racial socialization and internalizing symptoms in Black youth. Prior research suggests that Black individuals inhibit or suppress their emotions to minimize negative, stereotypical perceptions. Thus, the present study investigated emotion suppression as a mediator of the positive association between racial socialization messages regarding racial barriers and internalizing symptoms in a sample of Black youth. It was hypothesized that greater emotion suppression in Black youth would partially explain the positive relationship between racial socialization messages regarding racial barriers and internalizing symptoms.
Method: Black youth (N = 100; Mage = 11. 77 years, SD = 2.64; 73% male) were recruited nationally and administered self-report measures of racial socialization, emotion management strategies, and anxiety and depression symptoms.
Results: The mediation model indicated a significant indirect effect of racial socialization messages regarding racial barriers on self-reported internalizing symptoms via emotion inhibition (completely standardized point estimate = 0.45, SE = 0.23, BC 95% CI [0.06, 0.98]).
Discussion: Black youth who report greater frequency of exposure to parental racial socialization messages regarding racial barriers are more likely to engage in emotion suppression. In turn, they are more likely to report greater levels of internalizing symptoms. Future work should examine emotional, cognitive, and cultural protective factors for Black youth and their families to buffer against racism-related stress.
