The Effects of Stigma Priming on Forensic Screening in African American Youth

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the effect of stigma priming on a psychological screening in two separate experiments with African Americans who had juvenile court contact. Results of the first experiment showed that asking adolescents to state their racial group membership had no effect on self-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In the second experiment, adolescents primed by making racial identity attitudes salient reported higher levels of oppositional defiant, depressive, and anxiety symptoms, but not conduct disordered behavior, when compared with peers in a control group. Three racial identity profiles were identified: (a) Miseducation-Pro-Black, (b) Low Race Salience, and (c) Multiculturalist. Only the Low Race Salience profile was shown to be associated with stigma priming vulnerability in a forensic mental health screening.