Discrimination Can Hurt Teens, Body and Soul

Discrimination experienced by U.S. teens from Latin American and Asian backgrounds can affect their grades and health, and is associated with depression, distress and reduced self-esteem, a new study has found. University of California, Los Angeles researchers asked 601 high school seniors, who generally range in age from 17 to 19 years, to record any discriminatory events or comments they experienced over two weeks. They were also asked to note any physical symptoms, such as headaches, stomachaches and general pain.

Nearly 60 percent of the teens reported discrimination from other teens, 63 percent reported discrimination from adults, and 12 percent said they experienced discrimination every day. Latin American teens reported more adult discrimination than Asian American teens, while Asian American teens reported more adult discrimination than white teens of European descent. Both Latin American and Asian American teens reported more discrimination by their peers than the white teens. Teens who experienced higher levels of peer or adult discrimination reported more aches, pain and other symptoms, and had lower overall grade-point averages, the investigators found.

The study was released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence. Discrimination can be especially hard on teens, the study authors noted. "These are the years when social identity is arguably more salient among teenagers who are struggling with defining who they are. Adding on a 'layer' of discrimination is not an easy thing for them to deal with," one of the study authors, Andrew J. Fuligni, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, said in a university news release. "Discrimination significantly predicted lower, higher levels of depression, higher levels of distress, lower self-esteem and more physical complaints," Fuligni added. "So the bottom line? Discrimination is harmful."

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Kids Seem More Likely to Reject Those Whose Eyes Cross

Children with a condition called strabismus, in which their eyes aren't straight or don't line up with each other, may be less likely to be invited to birthday parties than other children, researchers have found.Swiss researchers digitally altered photographs of six children from six identical twin pairs to create inward and outward types of strabismus. They asked 118 children, aged 3 to 12 years, photos are unaltered pictures of the children with aligned eyes and select whom they would invite to their birthday party.

Children under 6 years of age didn't have any preference between the photos of the kids with strabismus or normally aligned eyes. But children 6 and older were much less likely to select the photos of the children with strabismus, Dr. Daniel Mojon, of the department of strabismology and neuro-ophthalmology at Kantonsspital in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and colleagues found. There were 48 children aged 6 to 8 in the study, and among that group 18 did not select any child with a strabismus, 17 selected this type of child once, 11 did so twice and two did so three times, according to the report published online Aug. 18 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

The researchers found that among the 31 children in the 4- to 6-year age group, only one did not select a child with strabismus, 21 selected a child with strabismus once or twice, and nine selected a child with strabismus three or four times. "Our results show that schoolchildren with strabismus seem less likely to be accepted by their peers, so corrective surgery for strabismus should be performed before the age of 6 years, when negative social implications may arise," Mojon and colleagues concluded.

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