Students who experienced racism said their mental health also deteriorated, a new study showed.
In 2023, nearly a third of high school students across the U.S. said they had experienced racism in school, which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who published the findings defined as unfair treatment due to a person’s race or ethnicity. Students of color reported they had had two to three times more racist experiences than white students who said they’d had.
These experiences resulted in students having more mental health issues and a greater risk of suicide and substance use than students who had never had them. The findings amplify concerns among experts and officials about the youth mental health crisis, particularly with an increasingly nonwhite student population in the U.S.
CDC researchers drew from the nationwide Youth Risk Behavior Survey completed by public and private school students every two years in grades 9 through 12. The 2023 survey of more than 20,000 students listed a new question asking teens whether they had ever experienced racism perpetrated by students, educators or others. The study didn’t ask whether the interaction was with a peer or involved a school disciplinary policy, such as bans on traditionally Black hairstyles.
Asian students were the most likely to experience racism, nearly 57% reported incidents, followed by 49% of multiracial students and almost 46% of Black students. About 39% of Hispanic, 38% of American Indian and Alaska Native, and nearly 38% of Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander students said they experienced racism. Around 17% of white students described similar experiences. Among people of color, female and LGBTQ students were more likely to experience racism than their classmates.
Overall, poor mental health, suicide risk and substance use were consistently higher among students who reported experiencing racism than among those who never had. Indigenous, Asian, Black, Hispanic and multiracial students who said they experienced racism also had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, compared with peers who didn’t. White students who had experienced racism also had feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
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