Jelsma Elizabeth, Kebbeh Nema, Ahmad Mahnoor
Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences, University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd, Room 491, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Children (Basel). 2024 Jul 8;11(7):830. doi: 10.3390/children11070830.
This study assessed the associations between children's experiences of discrimination based on race/ethnicity and sexual orientation/gender identity and their parents' anxiety, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health.
Our sample included 3910 parents with at least one child between 12 and 17 years of age. Data were pooled from the 2021 and 2022 waves of the National Health Interview Survey. Path analysis with maximum likelihood (ML) estimation and bootstrapping were used to examine the indirect pathways from child-experienced discrimination to parental self-rated health through parental anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Child-experienced discrimination based on race/ethnicity was associated with worse parental self-rated health via pathways through higher parental anxiety ( = 0.003) and depressive symptoms ( < 0.001). Child-experienced discrimination based on sexual orientation/gender identity was also associated with worse parental self-rated health via pathways through higher parental anxiety ( = 0.002) and depressive symptoms ( = 0.001).
The results show a strong association between children's experiences of discrimination and parental self-rated health through pathways of poor parental mental health. Findings demonstrate the need to reduce discrimination directed at children and to facilitate mental health support for parents of children experiencing discrimination to improve family well-being.
本研究评估了儿童基于种族/族裔以及性取向/性别认同所经历的歧视与他们父母的焦虑、抑郁症状及自评健康之间的关联。
我们的样本包括3910名有至少一个12至17岁孩子的家长。数据来自2021年和2022年的国家健康访谈调查。采用最大似然估计和自抽样法的路径分析来检验从儿童经历的歧视通过父母的焦虑和抑郁症状到父母自评健康的间接路径。
基于种族/族裔的儿童经历的歧视通过更高的父母焦虑（=0.003）和抑郁症状（<0.001）与更差的父母自评健康相关。基于性取向/性别认同的儿童经历的歧视也通过更高的父母焦虑（=0.002）和抑郁症状（=0.001）与更差的父母自评健康相关。
结果表明，通过父母心理健康不佳的途径，儿童经历的歧视与父母自评健康之间存在强烈关联。研究结果表明，有必要减少针对儿童的歧视，并为经历歧视的儿童的父母提供心理健康支持，以改善家庭福祉。
