Abstract Background Although a substantial body of research has documented the adverse mental health impacts of discrimination, few studies have examined these outcomes and their association with ethnicity. Objective This study characterizes variation in experiences of race-related bullying and adverse mental health symptoms among a sample of ethnically diverse Black adolescents. Methods We describe experiences of racially motivated bullying and associated protective factors across Black 8th,9th, and 11th grade youth ( n =8,201) in the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey, using multivariate logistic regression. Results Over a quarter of youth (29.5%) across all Black ethnic subgroups reported bullying based on their racial identity. Nigerian, Multiethnic Black, and Multiracial youth reported the highest rates of race-related bullying (40.0%, 35.2%, and 35.2%). We find that Oromo Ethiopian (OR=0.51 CI=0.36-0.72; p <0.001), non-Oromo Ethiopian (OR=0.69; CI=0.50-0.95; p <0.05) and Somali (OR=0.63; CI=0.53-0.75; p <0.001) identities were associated with lower reported odds of depression compared to their African American peers. Oromo (OR=0.60; CI=0.43-0.85; p<0.01), Nigerian (OR=0.6; CI=0.45-0.95; p <0.05) , and Somali (OR=0.65; CI=0.54-0.78; p <0.001) youth reported lower odds of anxiety symptoms while Multiracial youth reported greater (OR=1.3; CI= 1.13-1.51; p <0.001) even when controlling for race-related bullying. Similar patterns were seen for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Conclusion There exists a considerable amount of heterogeneity within Black adolescent populations, with regards to race-based bullying experience and mental health. These findings support the development of culturally or ethnically tailored interventions to address adverse mental health outcomes for Black youth.
Karbeah et al. (2025) studied this question.