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Review
. 2021 Oct 14;23(12):81.
doi: 10.1007/s11920-021-01297-x.

Impact of Racial Discrimination on the Mental Health of Minoritized Youth

Wanjikũ F M Njoroge  1   2 , Markolline Forkpa  3 , Eraka Bath  4
Affiliations
Review

Impact of Racial Discrimination on the Mental Health of Minoritized Youth

Wanjikũ F M Njoroge et al. Curr Psychiatry Rep. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: The impacts of racism and discrimination on developing minoritized youth are increasingly shown as having the potential to create long-lasting adverse outcomes on children's developmental trajectories.

Recent findings: From the quality of the schools they attend, to the level and amount of toxicants in the air they breathe, to equitable access to health care, and within interpersonal relationships and experiences with their peers, multiple forms of racism, systemic/structural, interpersonal/personally mediated, and internalized shape the health status of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPoC) youth. Accordingly, it is exceedingly important to use a developmental lens to distinguish the various outcomes these multiple forms of racism have on the health of minoritized youth. Critically, the time is now for rapid identification of these harms in all of the mediums and spaces in which they present followed by prevention and intervention strategies that are effective in equitably ensuring the healthy development for all of America's children.

Keywords: Adolescent mental health; Discrimination; Racism; Social determinants of health (SDOH); Social media; Vicarious racism.

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References

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