Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Internalizing Symptoms in Ethno-Racially Minoritized Youth: Exploring the Influence of Emotion Dysregulation.

Racial/ethnic discrimination is associated with elevated internalizing symptoms. However, the psychological processes through which discrimination affects internalizing symptoms in ethno-racially minoritized youth are less understood. The current study examined the role of emotion dysregulation in the association between racial/ethnic discrimination and internalizing symptoms. Participants were 5,693 ethno-racially minoritized youth (Mage at baseline = 9.89; 48% female; 42.3% Hispanic) enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM Study. Path analysis revealed that experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination were associated with greater emotion dysregulation in the following year, which was, in turn, associated with greater internalizing symptoms concurrently, covarying for sex assigned at birth and caregiver education level. Findings suggest emotion dysregulation may play a key role in the link between racial/ethnic discrimination and internalizing symptom development in minoritized youth. Targeting emotion dysregulation in clinical interventions to address internalizing symptoms related to racial/ethnic discrimination may improve well-being in this population.