Cyberbullying and online racism are taking their toll on Black youth mental health, according to a new story from NBC News.
A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry, “Online Racial Discrimination, Suicidal Ideation, and Traumatic Stress in a National Sample of Black Adolescents”, shows that Black adolescents “who experience racial discrimination online may develop symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder”:
“[W]e found direct and indirect positive associations between [online racial discrimination] and PTSD, PTSD and suicidal ideation, and [online racial discrimination] and suicidal ideation through PTSD, respectively.”
Tynes, Maxie-Moreman, and Hoang (2024)
While cyberbullying has long been known to be a detractor from adolescents’ mental health, this study set out to show that, in the words of study co-author Ashley Denise Maxie-Moreman, PhD, “in particular, for our Black youth, cyberbullying in the form of online racial discrimination is a really big issue.”
Discrimination has already been shown to contribute to PTSD in Black and Latino adults, with studies noting that “[r]esearch examining PTSD prevalence in racial and ethnic minority samples has suggested that African Americans and Latino adults may develop PTSD at higher rates than White adults.”
When talking about mental health in communities of color, we can’t ignore the negative effects racism and discrimination have on those who experience it. Effects of racial trauma can “contribute to anxiety, heart disease, depression, and psychological or cognitive impairment”, and can be passed down from one generation to the next (just ask Ashkenazi Jews).
Not only is racism affecting today’s Black community, today’s racism will potentially affect Black communities for generations, as the racism of generations past affects us today. Communities of color are suffering from racial trauma; it behooves all of us to address racism to the best of our ability, for our own health and that of our children and grandchildren.
