Disentangling Support for Violent and Non-violent Radicalization among Adolescents: A Latent Profile Analysis

Although support for violent and non-violent radicalization can co-occur, only a few adolescents who support non-violent radicalization also support or engage in violent acts. Yet, little is known about what factors are associated with adolescents' paths towards or away from violent and/or non-violent radicalization. Within a socio-ecological and positive youth development framework, this study investigates profiles of support for violent and non-violent radicalization among adolescents attending high schools in Quebec (Canada) and whether such profiles are differently associated with experiences of social adversity, school-, family- and peer-related factors and psychological distress. Adolescents (N = 1911; Mage = 15.7; SDage = 0.98; 48.7% girls) completed an online survey during school hours. A Latent Profile Analysis on scores of support for violent and non-violent radicalization was conducted. A multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the associations between profiles and variables of interest. We identified six profiles of adolescents. The heterogeneity of profiles suggested multiple and complex combinations of support for violent and non-violent radicalization as well as their co-existence in some but not all profiles. Adolescents who reported less discrimination, more positive school experiences and more family support were less likely to belong to profiles that supported violence. Primary prevention efforts in the field of support for violent radicalization must adopt a socio-ecological and social justice approach and consider the diversity of adolescents' profiles, attitudes and experiences.

Ethnic-Racial Socialization, Teacher Discrimination, and Black Youth's School Engagement and Achievement

Ethnic-racial socialization is one strategy Black parents use to support their children's school engagement and academic achievement given the occurrence and toxic effects of discrimination. Egalitarianism and preparation for bias socialization messages have yielded mixed evidence of promotive and protective effects for Black youth's school outcomes, and effects may vary according to ethnicity. Thus, this research examined associations between ethnic-racial socialization messages and school engagement and achievement, and whether these messages protected against teacher discrimination effects on academic achievement transmitted through school engagement, among a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents who participated in the National Survey of American Life Adolescent supplement study. Ethnic-racial socialization message content and the frequency of communication about race demonstrated different associations with engagement (i.e., school bonding, aspiration-expectation discrepancy, and disciplinary actions) and achievement (i.e., grades) for African American and Caribbean Black youth. However, the benefits were not sufficient to combat the adverse effects of teacher discrimination on school engagement and, in turn, achievement. These findings highlight the utility of integrating ethnic-racial socialization into prevention programs to support Black youth's school experiences; demonstrate the importance of attention to heterogeneity within Black youth; and underscore the critical need for prevention programs to address teacher discrimination.

Talking through the tough: Identifying facilitating factors to preparation for bias and racial-ethnic discrimination conversations among families from minoritized ethnic-racial groups

Parent-child conversations about race-related issues serve a protective function for minoritized families and are needed to help children of color thrive in the United States (Hughes et al., Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 51, 2016 and 1). Despite the difficulties that parents experience in having such conversations to prepare youth to cope with discrimination (Priest et al., International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 43, 2014 and 139), parents are actively engaging in these courageous conversations with the aim of protecting their youth. In order to fully understand and support parents having these conversations, our study sought to identify conversation facilitators (i.e., strategies currently being implemented and viewed as successful and/or viewed as potentially helpful) to engage in preparation for bias and racial-ethnic discrimination conversations from the perspective of parents and youth. The current qualitative study draws upon focus group data collected from parents and youth from African American, Chinese American, Mexican American, and Indian American (South Asian) families (N = 138 individuals; 30 focus groups). Reflections were transcribed and coded by a racially and ethnically diverse research team using an inductive thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 2006 and 77). Shared and unique facilitators to engaging in preparation for bias and racial-ethnic discrimination conversations were identified across the four racial-ethnic groups. Shared facilitators broadly centered on parent-youth relationship quality, conversation characteristics, and quality, and conversation content and relevance. Unique facilitators broadly centered on communication style and needs and conversation content. Shared and unique facilitators warrant more attention to best support minoritized families. The use of findings in developing interventions to support marginalized parents, youth, and families is addressed.

"Everyone Has Their Story": Intergroup Dialogue's Potential to Cultivate Connection Through the Sharing of Migration Narratives

Immigrant-origin (I-O) youth face increasing anti-immigrant rhetoric in the USA, including in their schools. School-based intergroup dialogue programming may help I-O youth and their peers build a more inclusionary culture. We qualitatively examined how I-O youth and their peers experienced a week-long school-wide intergroup dialogue program that aimed to foster connection among participants at a Northeastern high school. Participants' (N=159) experience in the program were analyzed using post-program reflections. Participants were 53% female and 74% underclassmen; 59% Latinx, 14% Black, 13% multiracial, 9% White, and 5% Asian and Middle Eastern; generationally, 54% identified as second-generation immigrants, 38% as non-immigrant origin, and 8% as first-generation. Participation in the program produced mixed results. For many, participation led to a greater sense of connection; youth reported that they learned about their peers, the immigrant experience, and sometimes, themselves. Connection was especially fostered among the dominant demographic groups in the school: second-generation and Latinx youth. Learning about others was less likely to cultivate connections when participants could not relate their own experiences, and at times even made participants feel more different from their peers. Intergroup dialogue has the potential to foster connection when participants are able to relate across experiences.

An intergroup contact approach for understanding attitudes and behaviours towards deaf students among hearing students in Malaysia

Purpose

This study examines the hearing students' attitudes and behaviors towards deaf students in Malaysia using the intergroup contact approach.

Design/methodology/approach

Purposive sampling was used to recruit 439 hearing students at secondary schools. Hearing students were asked to fill in questionnaires that contained four measurements: contact with deaf people, sources of knowledge about deaf people, attitudes towards deaf people and behaviors toward deaf people. A serial mediation model was proposed to investigate the hypothetical mediating role of knowledge and attitudes toward deaf students in the relationship.

Findings

The results of this study showed that contact frequency is negatively associated with attitudes towards deaf people. However, such a relationship is suppressed, only when knowledge is included as a mediator. In addition, mediation analysis supports that sources of knowledge and attitudes about deaf people mediate the relationship between contact and behaviors toward deaf people. Moreover, the frequency of contact indirectly contributes to behaviors through knowledge and attitudes.

Originality/value

The findings indicate that increasing the contact between hearing and deaf students would improve hearing students' attitudes and behaviors towards deaf students. However, this is only when the contact can improve hearing students' knowledge about deaf people and deafness.

Confronting the consequences of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination on health and health-care systems

Racism, xenophobia, and discrimination are key determinants of health and equity and must be addressed for improved health outcomes. We conclude that far broader, deeper, transformative action is needed compared with current measures to tackle adverse effects of racism on health. To challenge the structural drivers of racism and xenophobia, anti-racist action and other wider measures that target determinants should implement an intersectional approach to effectively address the causes and consequences of racism within a population. Structurally, legal instruments and human rights law provide a robust framework to challenge the pervasive drivers of disadvantage linked to caste, ethnicity, Indigeneity, migratory status, race, religion, and skin colour. Actions need to consider the historical, economic, and political contexts in which the effects of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination affect health. We propose several specific actions: a commission that explores how we action the approaches laid out in this paper; building a conversation and a series of events with international multilateral agency stakeholders to raise the issue and profile of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination within health; and using our multiple platforms to build coalitions, expand knowledge, highlight inequities, and advocate for change across the world.

Racial Microaggressions and Anti-Racism: A Review of the Literature with Implications for School-Based Interventions and School Psychologists

Many racial-ethnic minoritized individuals are repeatedly exposed to subtle actions reflecting racial slights, termed racial microaggressions (RMAs), which are associated with adjustment problems in early adult and adult populations. Early adolescence represents a unique developmental period when minoritized youth begin their racial-ethnic identity exploration and are subjected to stereotypes and prejudice, thereby making them vulnerable to RMAs. Based upon the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist, a systematic literature search, screening and review of RMA literature focusing on high schoolers and younger youth was conducted and yielded 54 publications. This paper reviewed the publications and identified gaps in the field such as the need for systematic research on early adolescents including the frequency and severity of RMAs and the important contributions of peers, parents and teachers for RMA victims, and the need for more evidence-based programming for middle schoolers. Findings suggest that developing school-based microaggression anti-racism programs is clearly needed for minoritized and White youth.

Future Directions in Mental Health Treatment with Stigmatized Youth

Stigma refers to societally-deemed inferiority associated with a circumstance, behavior, status, or identity. It manifests internally, interpersonally, and structurally. Decades of research indicate that all forms of stigma are associated with heightened risk for mental health problems (e.g., depression, PTSD, suicidality) in stigmatized youth (i.e., children, adolescents, and young adults with one or more stigmatized identities, such as youth of Color and transgender youth). Notably, studies find that stigmatized youth living in places with high structural stigma - defined as laws/policies and norms/attitudes that hurt stigmatized people - have a harder time accessing mental health treatment and are less able to benefit from it. In order to reduce youth mental health inequities, it is imperative for our field to better understand, and ultimately address, stigma at each of these levels. To facilitate this endeavor, we briefly review research on stigma and youth mental health treatment, with an emphasis on structural stigma, and present three future directions for research in this area: (1) directly addressing stigma in treatment, (2) training therapists in culturally responsive care, and (3) structural interventions. We conclude with recommendations for best practices in broader mental health treatment research.

Discrimination in Context: Examining Neighborhood-Level Variation in the Incidence and Adverse Effects of Perceived Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Among Chicago Youth

A growing body of research links interpersonal racial and ethnic discrimination to adverse youth outcomes. Yet, studies examining the relevance of neighborhood context for discrimination are sparse. This study examines neighborhood-level variation in the incidence and impact of perceived racial and ethnic discrimination on depressive symptoms, suicidal behavior, violent behavior, and substance use. Hierarchical regression models on a sample of 1333 African American and Hispanic youth (52.44% female; x̄ = 13.03 years, SD = 3.25 at wave 1) residing in 238 Chicago neighborhoods from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods indicated little to no neighborhood-level variation in the incidence and impact of discrimination. Findings suggest that the experience of discrimination among youth of color is ubiquitous.

Reducing implicit prejudice towards migrants in fifth grade pupils: efficacy of a multi-faceted school-based program

This study evaluated the impact of a school-based program designed to reduce implicit prejudice towards migrants in fifth-grade school children. The program used empathy and perspective taking and direct and indirect contact as strategies to reduce ethnic prejudice. Multiple activities were used, including drawings by migrant children as instruments to promote inclusive behaviors. One hundred and five students were divided into two groups (control, experimental), and the children in each completed the Child-IAT (Implicit Association Test) before and after the program, to measure their implicit prejudice. Only the experimental group participated in the program. The results showed a significant reduction in the implicit prejudice in the experimental group after the educational program, but not in the control group. The results are discussed considering the practical implications of such a school program.

Intergroup Contact and Prejudice Reduction: Prospects and Challenges in Changing Youth Attitudes

Intergroup contact has long been lauded as a key intervention to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup attitudes among youth. In this review, we summarize classic perspectives and new developments in the intergroup contact literature, highlighting both prospects and challenges associated with achieving desired youth outcomes through contact. First, we review literature showing how positive intergroup outcomes can be facilitated through cultivating optimal conditions for contact, as well as by attending to youth’s emotional responses to contact. We then discuss how desired contact outcomes may be inhibited by limited understanding of ways in which contact strategies may affect youth across developmental stages, as well as by limited focus on societal inequalities and intergroup conflict, which require examination of outcomes beyond prejudice reduction. We also review growing bodies of research on indirect contact strategies—such as extended contact, vicarious contact, and online contact—showing many options that can be used to promote positive relations among youth from diverse backgrounds, beyond the contact literature’s traditional focus on face-to-face interaction. We conclude this review by acknowledging how understanding both prospects and challenges associated with implementing contact strategies can enhance our capacity to prepare youth to embrace group differences and build more inclusive societies.

Longitudinal Effects of Racial Discrimination on Depressive Symptoms Among Black Youth: Between- and Within-Person Effects

OBJECTIVE

Black youth experience racial discrimination at high rates. This study sought to further understand the longitudinal effects of racial discrimination on the mental health of Black youth by examining cross-lagged associations between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms at the between-person (interindividual) level and the within-person (intraindividual) level.

METHOD

A group of 346 Black youths (mean age 10.9 years) from the rural southern United States reported racial discrimination and depressive symptoms 4 times over 24.5 months. A cross-lagged panel model was used to examine between-person concurrent and lagged effects, and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to examine within-person concurrent and lagged effects.

RESULTS

There were significant concurrent associations at all waves in both models. Additionally, there were significant lagged effects from perceived racial discrimination to depressive symptoms, but not from depressive symptoms to perceived racial discrimination, in both models.

CONCLUSION

Youth experiencing higher levels of racial discrimination subsequently develop more depressive symptoms than youth experiencing less discrimination (between-person effects), and youth experiencing higher levels of discrimination relative to their own average subsequently report increases in depressive symptoms (within-person effects). These findings provide a rigorous test of conceptual models outlining the harmful effects of racial discrimination on mental health, add to a growing body of work documenting these effects on Black youth, and underscore the need for systemic changes to reduce the amount of discrimination Black youth experience and for interventions to promote resilience among Black youth in the face of cultural marginalization.

“We’re All Equal” But Not Really: Perceptions of Racial Inequity Among Racial-Ethnic Minoritized Youth in the U.S

Racial-ethnic inequity is deeply entrenched in U.S. social systems, yet adolescents’ voices and understanding around inequity are not often directly examined. The current qualitative study uses focus group data from African American ( n = 21), Chinese- ( n = 17), Indian- ( n = 13), and Mexican- ( n = 17) origin adolescents ( Mage = 12.93 years; SD = 1.23; 51% boys) to provide insight on how youth navigate their attitudes and beliefs about these issues. Using a racial-ethnic socialization lens, we explore proximal (e.g., parents, peers, teachers) and distal (e.g., media, society) ways in which adolescents come to understand racial-ethnic inequity. Three themes characterized adolescents’ discussions. School diversity, of peers and of thought, and messages around egalitarianism were two prominent influences on their perceptions. A third theme related to perceptions of social hierarchies, which appeared to be shaped by stereotypes, peer interactions, and ideas about inequity itself. Emergent themes suggest that the school context is a particularly salient social setting that encompasses multiple sources of socialization (e.g., teachers, classmates, academics, climate), and parents, peers, and the media also play prominent roles.

Resilience-promoting policies and contexts for children of color in the United States: Existing research and future priorities

The health status of children in the United States varies by racial and ethnic, shaped by an interrelated set of systems that disadvantage children of color in the United States. In this article, we argue for a broad view of resilience, in both research and policy, that views resilience not just as a property of individuals but also as a characteristic of social contexts and policies. Accordingly, we describe the empirical evidence for policies and contexts as factors that can improve health among children and families that are deprived of equal opportunities and resources due to structural racism. We discuss the evidence and opportunities for policies and interventions across a variety of societal systems, including programs to promote economic and food security, early education, health care, and the neighborhood and community context. Based on this evidence and other research on racism and resilience, we conclude by outlining some directions for future research.