BACKGROUND: Black and Latinx youth are disproportionately exposed to neighborhood violence and related mental health challenges. Racial-ethnic identity shapes how adolescents perceive, interpret, and cope with stressful environmental conditions, yet its role in these associations remains underexplored.
METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from 621 Black and Latinx adolescents (mean age = 15.5 years), we applied structural equation modeling to examine associations of perceived neighborhood violence, racial self-efficacy, ethnic identity exploration, and internalizing symptoms of anxiety.
RESULTS: Greater exposure to neighborhood violence was associated with lower racial self-efficacy (ß = -0.22, p < .001), which was in turn associated with reduced internalizing symptoms (ß = -0.14, p < .001). Ethnic identity exploration was negatively associated with racial self-efficacy (ß = -0.10, p < .05) and was not significantly associated with internalizing symptoms (ß = -0.04, p > .05).
CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight potential psychosocial processes associated with neighborhood violence and suggest that racial self-efficacy may play a meaningful role in the mental health experiences of minoritized youth.
Racial self-efficacy and ethnic identity in the context of neighborhood violence and internalizing symptoms among Black and Latinx youth: An application of the minority stress theory
Community Health Equity Research and Policy [Epub 2025 Dec 3]. doi: 10.1177/2752535X251406670.