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Discrimination, Skin Color Satisfaction, and Adjustment among Latinx American Youth

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Abstract

Race-related biases and discrimination and easily observable race-related characteristics, such as skin color, appear to go hand and hand, but it remains unclear how these factors work together to shape youth development. The current study addresses this gap by investigating skin color satisfaction as a mediator between perceptions of discrimination and adjustment. Data are from a cross-sectional sample of Latinx youth (N = 175; Mage = 12.86; 51.4% female; 86.9% US-born) who completed measures of foreigner-based objectification, peer discrimination, adult discrimination, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and the importance or value attributed to academic success. Evidence of significant indirect effects of skin color satisfaction in the links between foreigner-based objectification and self-esteem as well as academic importance was found. Skin color satisfaction did not mediate links between either peer or adult discrimination and self-esteem, depression, and academic importance. The results provide support that being perceived as a foreigner has negative implications for Latinx youth adjustment through skin color satisfaction. The present study expands understanding of how different forms of differential treatment may affect minoritized youth. Implications and future research ideas are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the schools, families, and individual adolescents who participated in the study.

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Contributions

G.L.S. and L.K. designed and coordinated the larger study from which this manuscript is based; L.K. and K.E.-P. conceived of the manuscript’s initial research questions and K.E.-P. performed the primary statistical analyses and conducted tests of alternative statistical models. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Funding for the study, in part, was made possible by internal grant support awarded to G.L.S.

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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Correspondence to Lisa Kiang.

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Kiang, L., Espino-Pérez, K. & Stein, G.L. Discrimination, Skin Color Satisfaction, and Adjustment among Latinx American Youth. J Youth Adolescence 49, 2047–2059 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01244-8

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