Examining colorism, body image, and self-esteem in UK Black and South Asian adolescents

Introduction Colorism, a form of appearance-based prejudice in which people are penalized or privileged according to skin shade, hair and facial features, is a pervasive yet underexplored form of bias that affects minoritized ethnic populations. This study examined associations between experiences of colorism and body image and self-esteem among 552 Black and South Asian adolescents ( M age = 16.1 years) in the United Kingdom. Methods Participants completed an online survey that included measures of ingroup and outgroup colorism, internalized colorism, self-reported skin shade, skin shade satisfaction, body image (body esteem), and self-esteem. Results On average, Black and South Asian adolescents were not regularly subjected to colorism in their everyday lives. However, both ingroup and outgroup colorism were significantly associated with higher internalized colorism and lower skin shade satisfaction, lower body esteem, and lower self-esteem (all p 0.001). Linear models showed that colorism predicted lower body esteem and lower self-esteem, even after controlling for demographics (e.g., gender, age), self-reported skin shade, and internalized colorism. Ingroup colorism was a stronger predictor of low self-esteem than outgroup colorism though there were no differences between ingroup and outgroup colorism and the relationship with body image. Additionally, analyses showed that internalized colorism mediated the relationship between ingroup colorism and both body image and self-esteem. This mediation pathway was neither observed between outgroup colorism and body image nor self-esteem. Discussion Experiencing colourism was associated with worse wellbeing. The relationship between colorism and wellbeing may be explained by different mechanisms based on whether colorism is experienced by one’s own racialized group or not. There is a need for carefully designed culturally responsive interventions.