The intersection of school racial composition and student race/ethnicity on adolescent depressive and somatic symptoms

Katrina M. Walsemann, Bethany A. Bell and Debeshi Maitra

Social Science & Medicine, 2011, vol. 72, issue 11, 1873-1883

Abstract: Schools are one of the strongest socializing forces in the U.S. and wield considerable influence over individuals' social and economic trajectories. Our study investigates how school-level racial composition, measured by the percentage non-Hispanic white students in a school, affects depressive and somatic symptoms among a representative sample of U.S. adolescents, and whether the association differs by race/ethnicity. We analyzed Wave I data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, resulting in a sample size of 18,419Â students attending 132Â junior and senior high schools in 1994/5. After controlling for individual and school characteristics, our multilevel analyses indicated that with increasing percentages of white students at their school, black students experienced more depressive symptoms and a higher risk of reporting high levels of somatic symptoms. After including students' perceptions of discrimination and school attachment, the interaction between black student race and school-level racial composition was no longer significant for either outcome. Our findings suggest that attending predominantly-minority schools may buffer black students from discrimination and increase their school attachment, which may reduce their risk of experiencing depressive and somatic symptoms.

Keywords: USA; School; segregation; Mental; health; Discrimination; School; attachment; School; socio-economic; status; Adolescents; Ethnicity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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