Systemic White supremacy: U.S. state policy, policing, discrimination, and suicidality across race and sexual identity.

Although suicide rates are stable or decreasing among White communities, rates are increasing among Black communities, a trend that appears to be disproportionately affecting Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) people. To understand the structural drivers and mechanisms of these trends, we examined associations between U.S. state-level racist and heterosexist criminal legal policies and policing, discrimination, and suicidality among White and Black, heterosexual and LGBQ, communities. We recruited 5,064 participants in 2021 using online census-driven quota sampling. Structural equation modeling estimated associations from objective indicators of racist and heterosexist criminal legal policies to self-reported police stops, discrimination, and suicidal ideation and behavior. For White heterosexual participants, racist (ß = -.22, SE = 0.03, p < .001) and heterosexist (ß = -.26, SE = 0.03, p < .001) policies were negatively associated with police stops. For White LGBQ participants, racist and heterosexist policies were not significantly associated with police stops. For Black heterosexual participants, racist (ß = .30, SE = 0.11, p = .005), but not heterosexist, policies were positively associated with police stops. For Black LGBQ participants, racist (ß = .57, SE = 0.08, p < .001) and heterosexist (ß = .65, SE = 0.09, p < .001) policies were positively associated with police stops which, in turn, were positively associated with discrimination and suicidal ideation and behavior. Results provide evidence that racist and heterosexist state policies are linked to policing and interpersonal drivers of suicide inequities and suggest that repealing/preventing oppressive policies should be a suicide prevention imperative. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Exposure to Racism on Social Media and Acute Suicide Risk in Adolescents of Color: Results From an Intensive Monitoring Study.

Youth of color are often exposed to racism at both systemic and individual levels. Interpersonal racial/ethnic discrimination is the behavioral manifestation of individual racism.1,2 While direct individual experiences of racism (eg, comments directed at the individual) have deleterious effects for the socioemotional well-being of youth of color,3 research also points to the negative effects of broader exposure to racism (eg, viewing racist comments, images, or videos online1,2) that is not experienced directly. Now that social media (SM) has become a prominent and ubiquitous source of social interactions for adolescents, research on the influence of racism on youth must contend with this new medium. This is especially the case for youth of color, particularly Black and Hispanic/Latine youth, who report more SM use than White youth who do not identify as Hispanic/Latine.4 The unique features of SM, including its permanence, publicness, and personalized algorithms, may increase both direct and indirect experiences of online racism for youth of color, particularly due to its constant availability and highly visual nature, which likely expose and re-expose youth of color to a variety of online racist experiences. Approximately 20% of all Black adolescents sampled in a large national survey reported that they were the target of online bullying or harassment because of their racial or ethnic identity.4 Indeed, exposure to direct and indirect online racism is associated with negative mental health outcomes for youth of color,5,6 including posttraumatic symptoms, depression, and anxiety.

Randomized clinical trial of a brief, scalable intervention for mental health sequelae in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This randomized clinical trial aimed to determine feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of brief Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills videos in reducing psychological distress among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over six weeks, 153 undergraduates at a large, public American university completed pre-assessment, intervention, and post-assessment periods. During the intervention, participants were randomized to receive animated DBT skills videos for 14 successive days (n = 99) or continue assessment (n = 54). All participants received 4x daily ecological momentary assessments on affect, self-efficacy of managing emotions, and unbearableness of emotions. The study was feasible and the intervention was acceptable, as demonstrated by moderate to high compliance rates and video ratings. There were significant pre-post video reductions in negative affect and increases in positive affect. There was a significant time × condition interaction on unbearableness of emotions; control participants rated their emotions as more unbearable in the last four vs. first two weeks, whereas the intervention participants did not rate their emotions as any more unbearable. Main effects of condition on negative affect and self-efficacy were not significant. DBT skills videos may help college students avoid worsening mental health. This brief, highly scalable intervention could extend the reach of mental health treatment.

My strong, Black daughter: Racial/ethnic differences in the attributes mothers value for their daughters.

OBJECTIVES: The Strong Black Woman (SBW) ideal, which emphasizes self-reliance and strength, is considered an influential cultural image for many Black women. Research on how the SBW ideal may be reflected in maternal socialization is largely theoretical or qualitative. METHODS: Guided by cultural models of parenting, we tested for racial/ethnic differences in the importance and meaning of SBW-related attributes among 194 low-income, Black (22%), White (20%), and Latina (57%) families. Mothers (M = 41.6 years) and daughters (M = 15.4 years) completed semistructured interviews, q-sort tasks, and self-report measures. Group differences were examined with analysis of covariance, logistic regression, and multigroup path models. RESULTS: Black adolescents were not described by mothers or adolescents as possessing more SBW-related attributes (e.g., strong-willed, independent, assertive) compared to adolescents of other racial/ethnic groups; however, tests of moderation indicate group differences in how mothers perceived these attributes. Black adolescents with high SBW-related attributes were viewed by their mothers as showing leadership, whereas White and Latina adolescents with these attributes were viewed by mothers as having externalizing problems. Black mothers also rated these attributes as more important for young adult women to possess compared to other mothers. Finally, Black mothers described self-reliance as the critical developmental task for their daughter more than White and Latina mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest attributes consistent with the SBW ideal are valued by Black mothers more than Latina and White mothers from similar communities and provide empirical support about the potential importance of the SBW ideal in how Black mothers raise their daughters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Discrimination and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder among African Americans.

This study examined symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in a nationally representative sample of African American adults (n = 3,570) and correlations between OCD symptom dimensions and experiences of discrimination. Two categories of discrimination were examined, everyday racial discrimination and everyday nonracial discrimination (e.g., because of gender, age, and weight), to determine if racial discrimination had a unique impact on OCD symptoms. Results indicated that everyday racial discrimination was related to both categories of obsessions and all 4 categories of compulsions. Everyday nonracial discrimination, however, was not related to any of the categories of obsessions or compulsions. This indicates that racial discrimination is uniquely related to obsessions and compulsions for African Americans. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record