Discrimination and its relation to psychosocial well-being among diverse youth in Sweden.

Experiences of discrimination and links to well-being have been examined extensively, but several gaps remain. The current study addresses four of those gaps by (1) examining both aggregated and source-specific forms of discrimination, (2) comparing the experiences of minority and majority group members, (3) expanding the range of outcomes to include socially and developmentally appropriate measures, and (4) conducting the study in Sweden, a context in which discrimination and well-being are not well understood. The sample consisted of 573 adolescents and emerging adults (71% women, Mage = 19.21 years) who completed survey measures of discrimination and psychosocial well-being (self-esteem, life satisfaction, school adjustment, and identity distress). Findings indicated that minority groups reported more frequent discrimination, and more often cited ethnicity as the source of discrimination, whereas majority groups most often cited gender. Experiencing discrimination was related to poorer psychosocial well-being similarly for all groups. Youth experiencing ethnic discrimination were more often subjected to multiple forms of discrimination compared with those subjected to other forms of discrimination. Taken together, this study brings important information on the complexity of discrimination among youth in the multicultural context of migration in Sweden.

Depressive symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury during adolescence: Latent patterns of short-term stability and change.

INTRODUCTION: Depressive symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury not only increase in prevalence during adolescence, but they can also occur together. Both psychological problems seem to have similar precipitating conditions, suggesting they have transdiagnostic conditions-personal or contextual characteristics that contribute to co-occurrence. We sought to understand when these two problems co-occur and what is related to their co-occurrence. METHODS: Using a pattern-centered approach and two waves of longitudinal data collected annually, we examined latent profiles of depressive symptoms and self-injury among a Swedish sample of adolescents aged 12 to 16 (MageT1 = 13.65 years, SD = 0.64), 53.7% boys and 47.3% girls. Most of the adolescents were Swedish (89%), with parents who were married or cohabitating (68%). We also examined the transitions between profiles over time. RESULTS: Our results suggest that during this time frame, depressive symptoms and self-injury tend to emerge and stabilize or abate together. We also examined a broad array of predictors, including individual characteristics, emotion dysregulation, experiences with friends, parents' negative reactions to behavior, and school stress. The significant unique predictors suggest that adolescents who reported being subjected to relational aggression, having negative experiences while drinking, and low self-esteem had a greater probability of moving from moderate to high levels or maintaining high levels of depressive symptoms and self-injury, compared to adolescents classified in the other statuses. CONCLUSIONS: Focusing on negative interpersonal experiences and selfesteem as transdiagnostic conditions may guide research and aid clinicians in supporting adolescents who feel depressed and engage in self-injury.

Toward a New Understanding of Ethnic-Racial Settings for Ethnic-Racial Identity Development.

The purpose of this conceptual article is to advance theory and research on one critical aspect of the context of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development: ethnic-racial settings, or the objective and subjective nature of group representation within an individual's context. We present a new conceptual framework that consists of four dimensions: (1) perspective (that settings can be understood in both objective and subjective terms); (2) differentiation (how groups are defined in a setting); (3) heterogeneity (the range of groups in a setting); and (4) proximity (the distance between the individual and the setting). Clarifying this complexity is crucial for advancing a more coherent understanding of how ethnic-racial settings are related to ERI development.

A narrative approach to the role of others in ethnic identity formation.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to explore the role of others in ethnic identity development. Three questions were asked: to what extent others are involved in these processes, what roles they play, and whether the roles differed between participant who identified with a majority, minority or mixed ethnic identity. METHOD: An exploratory, narrative approach was used, and written narratives were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The analytic sample consisted of 191 participants (78% female, Mage = 20.39, SD = 5.31), of which 64% identified as Swedish, 11% as another ethnicity, and 25% as Swedish/other ethnicity. RESULTS: Results showed that others were present in most of the ethnicity-defining experiences and most participants expressed a self-defined ethnic identity. A thematic analysis of the role of others resulted in 6 themes; others as contrast, as reference, raising awareness, accepting, ascribing, and denying. Most commonly, others functioned as a contrast and/or a reference point that the narrators could position themselves against. Participants with mixed majority/minority identities more often experienced that others ascribed or denied them their ethnic identities. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings lend empirical support for ethnic identity formation as an interactive process and for the role of others in these processes. A power imbalance was prevalent throughout the results, where the degree of looking and acting "Swedish enough" limited the power of choosing an identity. In multicultural societies, for people to have the power to define and have their ethnic identities accepted is a necessary condition for integration. (PsycINFO Database Record