Neighborhood social processes as moderators between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms for African American adolescents

Racial discrimination is associated with numerous psychological consequences, including increased depressive symptoms for African American adolescents (Brody et al., 2006; Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003). Adolescents’ perceptions of their neighborhood can influence how youth interpret and manage racial discrimination (Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002). Yet little is known about how adolescent perceptions of neighborhood cohesion and neighborhood disorganization protect or exacerbate the effects of racial discrimination, or how these effects vary by youth's gender. Therefore, the current study examined whether neighborhood social cohesion and neighborhood disorganization moderated the association between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms for African American adolescents and how the effects differ for boys and girls. Participants were 106 African American adolescents (57% female; mean age 15.14) from an urban metropolitan area. Regression analyses suggest that perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion protected against racial discrimination for boys and girls. Additionally, the results indicate that when boys perceive less neighborhood disorganization, racial discrimination has a greater influence on their depressive symptoms. Findings have implications for intervention and prevention efforts that enhance and utilize positive neighborhood social processes for youth contending with racial discrimination.