Racial discrimination and socioemotional and sleep problems in a cross-sectional survey of Australian school students

Naomi Priest; Shiau Chong; Mandy Truong; Oishee Alam; Kevin Dunn; Meredith O'Connor; Yin Paradies; Andrew Ward; Anne Kavanagh

doi:10.1136/archdischild-2020-318875

Racial discrimination and socioemotional and sleep problems in a cross-sectional survey of Australian school students

Arch Dis Child. 2020 Nov;105(11):1079-1085. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2020-318875. Epub 2020 Jul 28.

Authors

Naomi Priest^{1

2}, Shiau Chong³, Mandy Truong⁴, Oishee Alam⁵, Kevin Dunn⁵, Meredith O'Connor^{2

6}, Yin Paradies⁷, Andrew Ward⁸, Anne Kavanagh⁹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia naomi.priest@anu.edu.au.
² Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
³ Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
⁴ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia.
⁸ The Social Research Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁹ Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

PMID: 32723755
DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2020-318875

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of direct and vicarious racial discrimination experiences from peer, school and societal sources, and examine associations between these experiences and socioemotional and sleep outcomes.

Methods: Data were analysed from a population representative cross-sectional study of n=4664 school students in years 5-9 (10-15 years of age) in Australia. Students reported direct experiences of racial discrimination from peers, school and societal sources; vicarious discrimination was measured according to the frequency of witnessing other students experiences of racial discrimination. Students self-reported on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, with the total difficulties, conduct, emotional and prosocial behaviour subscales examined. Sleep problems included duration, latency, and disruption.

Results: 41.56% (95% CI 36.18 to 47.15) of students reported experiences of direct racial discrimination; Indigenous and ethnic minority students reported the highest levels. 70.15% (95% CI 63.83 to 75.78) of students reported vicarious racial discrimination. Direct and vicarious experiences of racial discrimination were associated with socioemotional adjustment (eg, for total difficulties, total direct racism: beta=3.77, 95% CI 3.11 to 4.44; vicarious racism: beta=2.51, 95% CI 2.00 to 3.03). Strong evidence was also found for an effect of direct and vicarious discrimination on sleep (eg, for sleep duration, total direct: beta=-21.04, 95% CI -37.67 to -4.40; vicarious: beta=-9.82, 95% CI -13.78 to -5.86).

Conclusions: Experiences of direct and vicarious racial discrimination are common for students from Indigenous and ethnic minority backgrounds, and are associated with socioemotional and sleep problems in adolescence. Racism and racial discrimination are critically important to tackle as social determinants of health for children and adolescents.

Keywords: epidemiology; race and health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Affective Symptoms / epidemiology
Affective Symptoms / etiology*
Australia / epidemiology
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Minority Groups / psychology
Minority Groups / statistics & numerical data
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander / psychology
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander / statistics & numerical data
Peer Group
Prevalence
Racism / psychology*
Racism / statistics & numerical data
Sleep Wake Disorders / epidemiology
Sleep Wake Disorders / etiology*