Deliberate self-harm among underserved adolescents: the moderating roles of gender, race, and school-level and association with borderline personality features.

Despite increasing research on the correlates and functions of deliberate self-harm (DSH) among community youth, less is known about the subsets of youth most at-risk for DSH or the relevance of borderline personality (BP) pathology to DSH within this population. This study sought to extend research on the characteristics associated with DSH by examining the ways in which gender, racial/ethnic background, and school-level interact to influence DSH among ethnically diverse youth in a relatively poor and underserved area, as well as the extent to which levels of BP features account for differences in rates of DSH across subsets of youth. Middle- and high-school students (N = 1931) from six public schools in Mississippi completed self-report measures of DSH and BP features. Consistent with past research, 39% of the youth in our sample reported engaging in DSH. However, rates of DSH varied as function of gender, racial/ethnic background, and school-level (as well as their interactions), with African American boys reporting higher rates of most DSH behaviors than their peers (particularly in middle-school). One notable exception to this pattern pertains to the specific behavior of cutting, for which both White girls and African American boys reported the highest rates. Further, although BP features were reliably associated with DSH status (above and beyond these demographic characteristics), they did not account for the interactive effect of gender and race on rates of DSH. Findings highlight the importance of continuing to examine DSH and its correlates among more diverse groups of youth.

Racial differences in symptoms of anxiety and depression among three cohorts of students in the southern United States.

The present study aimed to extend the literature on mental health disparities in underserved areas by investigating racial differences in symptoms of anxiety and depression in three cohorts of school children in the Southern United States. White and African American students attending elementary, middle, and high school (n = 3,146) were administered a multi-dimensional measure of anxiety and depression. Racial differences were examined using categorical, dimensional, and latent-variable analytic methods. Although effect sizes were small across all levels of analysis, the categorical and dimensional approaches produced different patterns of significant anxiety-related findings. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the dimensional findings were not due to racial differences in the measurement of anxiety. The results of the current investigation suggest that, among school children, race has modest effects on symptoms of anxiety, but not depression. Further, the differential findings observed across analytic approaches reinforce the importance of measurement and methodology when studying psychopathology in children and adolescents.

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors among youth in an underserved area of the Southern United States: exploring the moderating roles of gender, racial/ethnic background, and school-level.

Despite the clinical relevance of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) among youth, little is known about the subset of youth most at-risk for SITB. This study examined the moderating roles of gender, racial/ethnic background, and school-level (and their interactions) on rates of SITB within a large (N = 2638, 52.2% female), ethnically-diverse sample of middle- and high-school youth in a relatively poor and underserved area of the Southern United States. Extending extant research in this area, findings indicated a significant interaction between gender and race for self-injurious behaviors, with African-American boys reporting higher rates than all other groups. Findings also indicated significant interactions between school-level and both gender and race for self-injurious thoughts. Whereas comparable levels of self-injurious thoughts were reported across middle- and high-schools for girls and African-American youth, the frequency of these thoughts was higher among both boys and White students in high-school (vs. middle-school). Results highlight the need for further research on SITB among diverse youth in underserved areas.