Skin color as a predictor of mental health in young Latinx children.

RATIONALE: Racial phenotype shapes the ways in which others perceive and interact with children, with implications for their immediate and long-term well-being. Still, few empirical studies have examined these links in Latinx children.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between skin color, as a salient marker of racial phenotype, and the mental health of young, Latinx children.

METHODS

The present study was conducted in the United States between 2010 and 2013. Participants (N = 684) were Mexican- and Dominican origin 4 - 5-year olds who were rated based on their skin tone as "moderately dark" (54%), "honorary white" (35%), and "collective black" (11%). Regression models were used to estimate the association between skin color (measured at age 4-5) and internalizing and externalizing behaviors (measured at the end of first grade).

RESULTS

By the end of first grade, "collective black" children had higher ratings on several indicators of internalizing and externalizing problems compared to their "honorary white" peers; this pattern was particularly pronounced for girls. Moreover, the association between externalizing behaviors at baseline and first grade was stronger among children with dark, relative to light, skin color.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that darker-skinned Latinx children may be at increased risk for more severe and/or more persistent mental health problems, perhaps due to discrimination based on their skin color. In order to develop intervention strategies to prevent mental health problems in the Latinx child population, future research is needed to examine how racism may manifest, particularly in teacher-student and parent-child interactions, in the everyday experiences of young children.