The Role Of Racism In African American Adolescents

Interestingly, the degree of psychological distress in participants that reported insecurities or frustrations varied and was determined by three factors: 1) whether participants had any understanding of racism and racial discrimination, 2) whether their racial experiences were direct or vicarious, and 3) whether their direct or vicarious experiences were brought about by a teacher or their peers. All participants reported having received racism directly or vicariously, but participants who received it more directly reported feelings of being more excluded and distressed. Almost all participants who reported their racist experiences as direct expressed their distress as a combination of both their teacher and peers’ treatment of them. Participants reported that their teachers were racially biased and categorized them with all the troubled blacks, while their peers adopted this perception and would stray away or continue to enact verbal micro-aggressions. All participants attested to this regardless of their confident levels and this was more amplified in the biracial participant who identified as black. Most participants reported being too young to perceive or understand racism, which was accounted for in this study and expected for adolescents growing up. These participants, …show more content…
These forms of racism, whether covert or overt, direct or vicarious, can take a toll on African Americans’ pride in their racial identity and self-esteem, which in turn can provoke psychological harm and distress within them. Although the degree of psychological harm in this study was not transparent enough to conclude any notable effects on African Americans’ academics or ability to progress in school, it does show other barriers that African Americans’ have to surpass to achieve upward mobility and academic success besides racism