Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-14-2026
Abstract
Background: Although prior research has linked perceived racial discrimination (PRD) to adverse outcomes among adolescents, fewer studies have comprehensively examined its associations with mental health, substance use, and victimization outcomes within a single nationally representative sample. The objective of this study is to examine the associations between school-based interpersonal PRD and a broad range of mental health, substance use, and victimization outcomes among racial/ethnic minority adolescents in the United States.
Methods: Data for this study were obtained from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The analytic sample included 9,885 racial/ethnic minority adolescents aged 14-18 (50.7% male). The associations between school-based interpersonal PRD and twenty-two outcomes spanning mental health (n = 6), current substance use (n = 6), and victimization and violence-related experiences (n = 10) were examined using binary logistic regression.
Results: We found that 16.7% of adolescents reported sometimes experiencing school-based interpersonal PRD and 6.9% experienced PRD most of the time or always. In the multivariable logistic regression models, adolescents who experienced school-based interpersonal PRD most of the time or always had higher odds of poor mental health, sadness or hopelessness, suicidal ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempts (adjusted odds ratios [AORs] = 3.39-5.19) compared to adolescents who never experienced PRD. The strongest associations were observed for victimization outcomes, including school bullying (AOR = 9.68), being threatened or injured on school property (AOR = 8.44), and physical dating violence (AOR = 7.68).
Conclusions: School-based interpersonal PRD was associated with mental health problems, substance use, and victimization among racial/ethnic minority adolescents. These findings highlight the broad health correlates of school-based interpersonal PRD and emphasize the need for multilevel prevention and intervention strategies that strengthen individual coping while addressing the broader social and structural inequities that contribute to discriminatory experiences.
Recommended Citation
Baiden, Philip, Batholomew Chireh, Catherine A. LaBrenz, Yao Wang, Yangjin Park, Minhae Cho, Judith S. Anagbonu, Raymond M. Glikpo, Sheriffa Mahama, and Peace Nnaji. "More Than Hurt Feelings: Associations Between Perceived Racial Discrimination and Mental Health, Substance Use, and Victimization Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Adolescents." Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2026): 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-026-03171-z
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
DOI
10.1007/s40615-026-03171-z
Comments
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.