African American Adolescents Speak: The Meaning of Racial Identity in the Relation Between Individual Race-Related Stress and Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

The study investigates the associations of individual race-related stress and mental health in African American adolescents. Under the backdrop of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the project uses quantitative and qualitative methods that are used to clarify the roles of racial identity. Focus groups are used to understand how participants discussed racial identity experiences and racial discrimination. The participants were 146 high school students with an average of 15.68 (SD = 1.16). Twenty-nine students were selected for focus group interviews. Racial identity was measured with the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-Teen (MIBI-T) (Scottham et al., Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 14:297–306, 2008). The internal consistencies were adequate (e.g., centrality, α = 0.63, private regard α = 0.73, and public regard, α = 0.80). The Index of Race-Related Stress (Seaton, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 15:137–144, 2003