The Effects of Racial Discrimination on Health Outcomes Among African American Youth: The Moderating Effects of Public Collective Self-Esteem

Introduction: Racial discrimination is associated with numerous negative health outcomes, including increased risk for depression and anxiety symptoms and substance use. Positive views of one’s ethnic group (i.e., ethnic identity) and one’s self (i.e., self-esteem) have both been shown to buffer the negative effects of racial discrimination on health outcomes. The extent to which one believes their group is valued by others (i.e., public collective self-esteem) has also been proposed to be protective. However, to date limited research has examined the promotive effect of public collective self-esteem above forms of self-evaluation or its moderating effect on health outcomes due to experiences of discrimination. The current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.

Methods: 612 African American youth (58.2% female, mean grade = 8) completed measures on experiences of discrimination, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, substance use, two forms of self-evaluation (i.e., ethnic identity and self-esteem) and public collective self-esteem.

Results: Controlling for the demographic variables and forms of self-evaluation, a significant main effect was found for public collective self-esteem, such that higher scores were associated with better health outcomes among African American youth. A moderating effect of public collective identity was not observed.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of examining public collective identity and the promotive effect it can have on health outcomes for African Americans. More research is needed to confirm whether or not public collective self-esteem buffers the negative effect of discriminatory experiences faced by African Americans.