Discrimination and Subsequent Mental Health, Substance Use, and Well-being in Young Adults

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Discrimination has been shown to have profound negative effects on mental and behavioral health and may influence these outcomes early in adulthood. We aimed to examine short-term, long-term, and cumulative associations between different types of interpersonal discrimination (eg, racism, sexism, ageism, and physical appearance discrimination) and mental health, substance use, and well-being for young adults in a longitudinal nationally representative US sample. METHODS:We used data from 6 waves of the Transition to Adulthood Supplement (2007-2017, 1834 participants) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Outcome variables included selfreported health, drug use, binge drinking, mental illness diagnosis, Languishing and Flourishing score, and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale score. We used logistic regression with cluster-robust variance estimation to test cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between

Changes in flourishing from adolescence to young adulthood: An 8‐year follow‐up

“…Additionally, extensive evidence documents the role of racism and daily discrimination experienced by Hispanics, African Americans and other ethnic minorities (Williams et al, 2003), with research finding associations with poor psychological and physical health outcomes among adolescents (Huynh & Fuligni, 2010; Sirin et al, 2015) and emerging adults (Cano, Schwartz, et al, 2021). We found that a higher frequency of everyday discrimination was related to 7% lower odds of flourishing, even when controlling for demographic characteristics, adolescent flourishing and multiple indicators of healthy development, which support Lei et al's recent findings (2021). The relationship between Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, everyday discrimination and flourishing warrants further exploration, particularly given the relationship others have found between ethnic discrimination and mental health disorders among Hispanic emerging adults (Cano, Schwartz, et al, 2021).…”

“…Racialized group status might also be related to flourishing. Evidence indicates that chronic exposure to frequent interpersonal and systemic stressors puts Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American and members of other racially minoritized groups at higher risk of poor mental health such as depression (Huynh & Fuligni, 2010; Sirin et al, 2015; Williams et al, 2003), and findings from a recent study indicates that higher frequency of everyday discrimination is related to lower odds of flourishing (Lei et al, 2021).…”

“…While the evidence suggests that positive mental health is related to demographic characteristics such as age, gender, racialized group and ethnicity and proximal experiences such as educational engagement, supportive social relationships, civic engagement, discrimination and physical health (de la la Fuente et al, 2020; Fenn et al, 2021; Keyes, 2006; Keyes et al, 2012; Lei et al, 2021; O'Connor et al, 2017), little is known about the prevalence of flourishing among a nationally representative sample of US young adults, changes from adolescence into young adulthood and how proximal indicators of healthy development are related to flourishing among young adults in the United States. The present study aims to expand upon Keyes (2006) prior examination of the state of positive mental health among US adolescents by describing those same adolescents when they became young adults.…”