Steve Hicks School of Social Work, 1924 San Jacinto Blvd., The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, United States.
School of Kinesiology and Institute for Social Research, 1402 Washington Heights, OBL 1150, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, United States.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Oct;238:112467. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112467. Epub 2019 Aug 17.
Racial phenotype shapes the ways in which others perceive and interact with children, with implications for their immediate and long-term well-being. Still, few empirical studies have examined these links in Latinx children.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between skin color, as a salient marker of racial phenotype, and the mental health of young, Latinx children.
The present study was conducted in the United States between 2010 and 2013. Participants (N = 684) were Mexican- and Dominican origin 4 - 5-year olds who were rated based on their skin tone as "moderately dark" (54%), "honorary white" (35%), and "collective black" (11%). Regression models were used to estimate the association between skin color (measured at age 4-5) and internalizing and externalizing behaviors (measured at the end of first grade).
By the end of first grade, "collective black" children had higher ratings on several indicators of internalizing and externalizing problems compared to their "honorary white" peers; this pattern was particularly pronounced for girls. Moreover, the association between externalizing behaviors at baseline and first grade was stronger among children with dark, relative to light, skin color.
These findings suggest that darker-skinned Latinx children may be at increased risk for more severe and/or more persistent mental health problems, perhaps due to discrimination based on their skin color. In order to develop intervention strategies to prevent mental health problems in the Latinx child population, future research is needed to examine how racism may manifest, particularly in teacher-student and parent-child interactions, in the everyday experiences of young children.
种族表型塑造了他人对儿童的感知和互动方式，对他们的即时和长期福祉都有影响。然而，很少有实证研究调查过拉丁裔儿童的这些联系。
本研究旨在调查皮肤颜色（作为种族表型的显著标志）与年轻拉丁裔儿童心理健康之间的关系。
本研究于 2010 年至 2013 年在美国进行。参与者（N=684）为 4-5 岁的墨西哥裔和多米尼加裔儿童，他们的皮肤色调被评为“中度深”（54%）、“荣誉白”（35%）和“集体黑”（11%）。回归模型用于估计皮肤颜色（在 4-5 岁时测量）与内化和外化行为（在一年级末测量）之间的关联。
到一年级末，与“荣誉白”的同龄人相比，“集体黑”的儿童在几个内化和外化问题的指标上得分更高；这种模式在女孩中尤为明显。此外，与浅色皮肤的儿童相比，深色皮肤的儿童在基线时的外化行为与一年级时的外化行为之间的关联更强。
这些发现表明，深色皮肤的拉丁裔儿童可能面临更严重和/或更持久的心理健康问题的风险增加，这可能是由于他们的肤色而受到歧视。为了制定预防拉丁裔儿童群体心理健康问题的干预策略，未来的研究需要研究种族主义如何表现出来，特别是在教师-学生和家长-子女互动中，在幼儿的日常经历中。
