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The present study examined the impact of COVID‐19‐related racial discrimination on Chinese American adolescents (N = 213;Mage = 13.95 years,SD = 2.35; 49% girls) at the intersection of race and gender. We explored (1) subgroups of adolescents based on ethnic identity, bicultural identity integration, and behavioral acculturation; (2) their demographic correlates; and (3) whether the association between racial discrimination and anxiety varied across subgroups and gender. Latent profile analysis identified three profiles:bicultural,marginalized, andseparated.Biculturalandmarginalizedadolescents were vulnerable to direct and vicarious racial discrimination, respectively. Moreover,biculturalandmarginalizedboys andseparatedgirls were more negatively affected by COVID‐19‐related racial discrimination. The findings highlight the utility of person‐centered and intersectional approaches in understanding Chinese American adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination.
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Ethnic–Racial Discrimination Exposure and Anxiety in Latina Girls: Amygdala Volume as an Indirect Neurobiological Pathway
Abstract Ethnic–racial discrimination, the differential treatment of individuals based on ethnic or racial group membership, predicts poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety. This is supported by long-standing theories on the social determinants of health and minority stress. However, these theories are rarely expanded to neurobiological sciences, limiting our understanding of mechanisms underlying observed associations. One potential neurobiological pathway between ethnic–racial discrimination exposure and anxiety is that ongoing exposure to racially charged encounters presents imminent threats that may modify stress-sensitive neurocircuitry, like the amygdala. The current study evaluated whether amygdala volume mediated associations between ethnic–racial discrimination exposure and anxiety symptoms in Latina girls, a group exhibiting heightened levels of untreated anxiety and disproportionately subjected to ethnic–racial discrimination. Thirty predominantly Mexican-identifying Latina girls residing in Southern California (MAge = 9.76,SD = 1.11 years) completed a T1-weighted structural MRI scan. Using thePerceptions of Racism in Children and Youth, participants self-reported the prevalence and severity of various discriminatory experiences. Participants also self-reported their anxiety symptoms via theScreen for Child Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders.Controlling for total intracranial volume and annual household income, an indirect effect of ethnic–racial discrimination on anxiety symptoms via left amygdala volume was observed,β = −0.28,SE = 0.17, BC 95% CI [−0.690, −0.017]. The current findings suggest that the left amygdala is sensitive to racialized threats in childhood and that stress-related alterations may, in part, contribute to elevated anxiety in Latina girls. Our data elucidate a potential mechanism by which this form of sociocultural stress can adversely impact mental health, particularly in the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence, a period marked by a host of interlinked neurophysiological and social changes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2239067
- PAR ID:
- 10499460
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
- Volume:
- 76
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0023-2653
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 627-648
- Size(s):
- p. 627-648
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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