TY - JOUR
T1 - Adding to the Education Debt
T2 - Depressive Symptoms Mediate the Association between Racial Discrimination and Academic Performance in African Americans
AU - English, Devin
AU - Lambert, Sharon F.
AU - Ialongo, Nicholas S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health ( MH057005 : PI Ialongo; MH078995 : PI Lambert) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( DA11796 : PI Ialongo; DA036288 : PI English). We thank the Baltimore City Public Schools for their collaborative efforts and the parents, children, teachers, principals, school psychologists, and social workers who participated in this study. We hope that this article helps to amplify your experiences and voices.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology.
PY - 2016/8/1
Y1 - 2016/8/1
N2 - Although the United States faces a seemingly intractable divide between white and African American academic performance, there remains a dearth of longitudinal research investigating factors that work to maintain this gap. The present study examined whether racial discrimination predicted the academic performance of African American students through its effect on depressive symptoms. Participants were a community sample of African American adolescents (N = 495) attending urban public schools from grade 7 to grade 9 (Mage = 12.5). Structural equation modeling revealed that experienced racial discrimination predicted increases in depressive symptoms 1 year later, which, in turn, predicted decreases in academic performance the following year. These results suggest that racial discrimination continues to play a critical role in the academic performance of African American students and, as such, contributes to the maintenance of the race-based academic achievement gap in the United States.
AB - Although the United States faces a seemingly intractable divide between white and African American academic performance, there remains a dearth of longitudinal research investigating factors that work to maintain this gap. The present study examined whether racial discrimination predicted the academic performance of African American students through its effect on depressive symptoms. Participants were a community sample of African American adolescents (N = 495) attending urban public schools from grade 7 to grade 9 (Mage = 12.5). Structural equation modeling revealed that experienced racial discrimination predicted increases in depressive symptoms 1 year later, which, in turn, predicted decreases in academic performance the following year. These results suggest that racial discrimination continues to play a critical role in the academic performance of African American students and, as such, contributes to the maintenance of the race-based academic achievement gap in the United States.
KW - Academic achievement
KW - Adolescent
KW - African American
KW - Racial discrimination
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jsp.2016.05.007
DO - 10.1016/j.jsp.2016.05.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 27425564
AN - SCOPUS:84974556022
SN - 0022-4405
VL - 57
SP - 29
EP - 40
JO - Journal of School Psychology
JF - Journal of School Psychology
ER -