Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Road, Building #10, Room G016, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan Medical School, Medical Professional Building, Room D3202, Box: 5718, 1522 Simpson Road East, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5718, USA.
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Road, Building #10, Room G016, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2018 Feb;199:230-240. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.04.018. Epub 2017 Apr 26.
Racism is a pervasive stressor. Although most research focuses on direct targets, racism can also have unintended victims. Because children's lives are inevitably linked to the experiences of other individuals, and they are in critical phases of development, they are especially vulnerable to such stressors. Despite the growing body of literature on children's direct exposure to racism, little is known about the relationship between vicarious racism (i.e. secondhand exposure to racism) and child health. To examine the state of this literature, we performed a systematic review and screened 1371 articles drawn from 7 databases, with 30 studies meeting inclusion criteria. For these 30, we reviewed research methodology, including conceptualization and measurement of vicarious exposure, sample characteristics, significant associations with child health outcomes, and mediators and/or moderators of those associations. Most studies were published after 2011 in urban areas in the U.S., employed longitudinal designs, and focused on African American populations. Socioemotional and mental health outcomes were most commonly reported with statistically significant associations with vicarious racism. While all studies examined racism indirectly experienced by children, there was no standard definition of vicarious racism used. We organize the findings in a schematic diagram illustrating indirectly-experienced racism and child health outcomes to identify current gaps in the literature and ways in which to bridge those gaps. To further the field, vicarious racism should be uniformly defined and directly measured using psychometrically validated tools. Future studies should consider using children as the informants and follow children into early adulthood to better understand causal mechanisms. Given the recent national exposure to racially-charged events, a deeper understanding of the association between vicarious racism and child health is crucial in fueling research-informed social action to help children, families, and communities exposed to racism. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42016039608.
种族主义是一种普遍存在的压力源。尽管大多数研究都集中在直接目标上,但种族主义也可能会对意想不到的人造成伤害。由于儿童的生活不可避免地与其他人的经历相关联,而且他们正处于关键的发展阶段,因此他们特别容易受到这种压力源的影响。尽管有关儿童直接接触种族主义的文献越来越多,但人们对替代性种族主义(即间接接触种族主义)与儿童健康之间的关系知之甚少。为了研究这方面的文献,我们进行了系统的综述,并从 7 个数据库中筛选出 1371 篇文章,其中 30 篇研究符合纳入标准。对于这 30 篇文章,我们回顾了研究方法,包括间接接触的概念化和测量、样本特征、与儿童健康结果的显著关联,以及这些关联的中介因素和/或调节因素。大多数研究是在 2011 年之后在美国城市地区发表的,采用了纵向设计,并且关注的是非洲裔美国人。社会情感和心理健康结果是最常报道的,与替代性种族主义有统计学上的显著关联。虽然所有的研究都间接研究了儿童经历的种族主义,但没有使用统一的替代性种族主义定义。我们以示意图的形式组织这些发现,以说明间接经历的种族主义和儿童健康结果,以确定文献中的现有差距,并探讨弥合这些差距的方法。为了进一步推进这一领域的研究,应该统一定义和直接测量替代性种族主义,使用经过心理测量验证的工具。未来的研究应该考虑让儿童作为信息提供者,并在儿童进入成年早期后对其进行跟踪,以更好地理解因果机制。鉴于最近全国性地接触到种族敏感事件,深入了解替代性种族主义与儿童健康之间的关联对于激发基于研究的社会行动以帮助接触到种族主义的儿童、家庭和社区至关重要。PROSPERO 注册号:CRD42016039608。