Racial minority status and distress among children and adolescents

This study examines the relationship between racial background and two meas ures of distress among 10 to 17 year-old youth. The authors test whether mi nority racial status has an independent effect when socioeconomic status, s ocial support patterns, gender and age are controlled. The data for the stu dy are drawn from the National Commission on Children: 1990 Survey of Paren ts and Children which provides a nationally representative sample of 918 bl ack, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white youth and their parents. The construct ions of mood and worry scales yield measures of self-reported distress. Rac ial heritage was not significantly associated with "mood." Hispanic heritag e was significantly related to "worry." Although African American children did report more worry than white children, the relationship did not reach s tatistical significance. The implications of these findings for program dev elopment, and the delivery of services are discussed.