A study co-authored by Dr. Lionel Howard (GSEHD Professor & Educational Leadership Department Chair) alongside Devin English (Rutgers University, lead author/researcher, GW grad), Sharon Lamber (GW, co-author), and Brendesha Tynes (GW, co-author) was recently featured in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. The study was titled "Daily multidimensional racial discrimination among Black U.S. American adolescents."
Per the abstract:
This study examined frequencies and psychological effects of daily racial discrimination experienced individually, vicariously, online, offline, and through teasing. Participants were 101 Black U.S. American adolescents for this ecological momentary assessment study that measured daily racial discrimination and 14-day depressive symptoms slopes. Confirmatory factor analyses specified subscales, t-test analyses compared subscale means, and hierarchical linear analyses tested associations between subscales and depressive symptoms slopes. Results showed that six subscales fit the data well: individual general, vicarious general, individual online, vicarious online, individual teasing, and vicarious teasing. Participants reported 5606 experiences of racial discrimination during the study and averaged 5.21 experiences per day across the six subscales. The two online subscales were more frequent than the offline subscales. Aside from online vicarious experiences, all subscales were positively associated with depressive symptoms slopes. Findings underscore the multidimensional, quotidian, and impactful nature of racial discrimination in the lives of Black adolescents in the U.S.