Mental Health and Educational Experiences Among Black Youth: A Latent Class Analysis
Theda Rose, Michael A. Lindsey, Yunyu Xiao, Nadine M. Finigan-Carr, and Sean Joe (2017)
- Objective of the study was to examine the associations between mental health and educational experiences among Black adolescents.
- Higher school bonding is strongly associated with having better mental health.
- Those with poor mental health experience other problematic school issues such as grade retention and school suspensions.
- Black adolescents tend to report significantly lower school bonding than White students
- The current study findings suggest that this narrower conceptualization of mental health does not lend itself to a full inclusion of the positive psychosocial changes adolescents may experience.
- Ongoing efforts are needed to address disparities in the educational experiences of Black youth.
Abstract
Disproportionately lower educational achievement, coupled with higher grade retention, suspensions, expulsions, and lower school bonding make educational success among Black adolescents a major public health concern. Mental health is a key developmental factor related to educational outcomes among adolescents; however, traditional models of mental health focus on absence of dysfunction as a way to conceptualize mental health. The dual-factor model of mental health incorporates indicators of both subjective wellbeing and psychopathology, supporting more recent research that both are needed to comprehensively assess mental health. This study applied the dual-factor model to measure mental health using the National Survey of American Life—Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), a representative cross-sectional survey. The sample included 1170 Black adolescents (52% female; mean age 15). Latent class analysis was conducted with positive indicators of subjective wellbeing (emotional, psychological, and social) as well as measures of psychopathology. Four mental health groups were identified, based on having high or low subjective wellbeing and high or low psychopathology. Accordingly, associations between mental health groups and educational outcomes were investigated. Significant associations were observed in school bonding, suspensions, and grade retention, with the positive mental health group (high subjective wellbeing, low psychopathology) experiencing more beneficial outcomes. The results support a strong association between school bonding and better mental health and have implications for a more comprehensive view of mental health in interventions targeting improved educational experiences and mental health among Black adolescents.
Objective
To examine the associations between mental health and educational experiences among Black adolescents.
Methods
The study used a nationally representative sample of 3,570 Black, 1006 non-Hispanic whites, and 1621 blacks of Caribbean descent (CBs) adolescents aged 18 years and older. This study is a secondary analysis of the 2001–2003 National Survey of American Life—Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A) (Jackson et al. 2004), originally collected by researchers at the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) through the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Informed consent and assent were obtained from the adolescent’s legal guardian and adolescent prior to the interview. Trained interviewers used a computer-assisted instrument to conduct most of the interviews in the adolescents’ homes. Additionally, about 18% were conducted either in part or fully by telephone. Respondents were paid $50 for their participation in the study; the overall response rate was 80.6%
The demographic variables included gender, age (continuous), ethnicity, and family income. Education measures included grades, grade retention, suspensions, expulsions, and school bonding. Mental health was determined by both subjective wellbeing (SWB) and psychopathology. SWB included three dimensions: emotional wellbeing (life satisfaction), psychological wellbeing (self-esteem, mastery, and positive relations with others), and social wellbeing (social integration). Psychopathology was measured by depressive symptoms, the number of lifetime disorders, and the severity of mental illness.
Results
Results from the study suggest the following: (1) Higher school bonding is strongly associated with having better mental health (2) Those with poor mental health experience other problematic school issues such as grade retention and school suspensions.
Conclusions
The current study findings suggest that this narrower conceptualization of mental health does not lend itself to a full inclusion of the positive psychosocial changes adolescents may experience. The study underscores the critical importance of a more comprehensive conceptualization of mental health that includes subjective wellbeing or other positive mental health characteristics and thus, provides further evidence for the use of a dual-factor model of mental health (e.g., Suldo and Shaffer 2008) among adolescents, generally, and Black adolescents, specifically. This model is particularly important as there has been a prevailing emphasis or focus on the absence of dysfunction as a way to conceptualize mental health. The current study findings suggest that this narrower conceptualization of mental health does not lend itself to a full inclusion of the positive psychosocial changes adolescents may experience. Ongoing efforts are needed to address disparities in the educational experiences of Black youth