Racial Self-Efficacy and Ethnic Identity in the Context of Neighborhood Violence and Internalizing Symptoms Among Black and Latinx youth: An Application of the Minority Stress Theory

Background Black and Latinx youth are disproportionately exposed to neighborhood violence and related mental health challenges. Racial-ethnic identity shapes how adolescents perceive, interpret, and cope with stressful environmental conditions, yet its role in these associations remains underexplored. Methods Using cross-sectional data from 621 Black and Latinx adolescents (mean age = 15.5 years), we applied structural equation modeling to examine associations of perceived neighborhood violence, racial self-efficacy, ethnic identity exploration, and internalizing symptoms of anxiety. Results Greater exposure to neighborhood violence was associated with lower racial self-efficacy (β = −0.22, p < .001), which was in turn associated with reduced internalizing symptoms (β = −0.14, p < .001). Ethnic identity exploration was negatively associated with racial self-efficacy (β = −0.10, p < .05) and was not significantly associated with internalizing symptoms (β = −0.04, p > .05). Conclusions These findings highlight potential psychosocial processes associated with neighborhood violence and suggest that racial self-efficacy may play a meaningful role in the mental health experiences of minoritized youth.