Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Internalising Problems among Adolescents: Do Youth and Community Centres Work as a Buffer?

Abstract

Perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) has severe consequences for adolescents’ wellbeing. Research has shown PED to positively relate to adolescents’ internalising problems, and that this relation is weaker when adolescents receive parental or peer support. Adolescents may not always receive sufficient or effective social support from these social networks. This study aims to examine whether youth and community centre visits show a similar buffering effect on the relation between PED and internalising problems among Dutch adolescents with a migration background as has previously been shown for parental and peer support. To this end, cross-sectional data were used from 305 participants (M = 17.57, SD = 1.85) between 16 and 25 years old who filled out a self-report questionnaire administered by trained researchers. These participants were from three MBO schools (vocational educational track) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The data originated from the first wave of the longitudinal YOUth Got Talent (YGT) project. A linear regression showed a significantly positive relation between PED and internalising problems. A moderated linear regression showed that no moderation effect was present for youth/community centre visits. Future research further explore the relation between PED and internalising problems among Dutch adolescents with a migration background by investigating unique relations between different sources of PED (e.g., teachers, adults outside of school, peers) and internalising problems. Furthermore, it is advised to examine the conditions for youth/community centres to enable the development of supportive relationships and social support.