Longitudinal study of adolescent stress, critical consciousness and resilience trajectories in the context of structural racism: the RISE Baltimore study protocol.

Abstract

Systemic racism exposes Black and Latinx adolescents to a range of traumatic stressors that increase the risk for long-term emotional and behavioural health (EBH) problems. Researchers have theorised that <i>critical consciousness (CC)</i>-awareness of societal inequities and engagement in action to promote social justice-may serve as a protective factor that promotes youth well-being. There are few rigorous longitudinal research studies, however, that examine the development of CC among adolescents, the association over time of CC with EBH and the potential of CC to protect against harmful effects of race-related stress. This longitudinal study, Resilience in a Stressful Era (RISE), addresses these gaps using a mixed methods approach with Black, Latinx and White adolescents in Baltimore. We plan to enrol up to 650 Black, Latinx and White adolescents ages 14-19 who reside in Baltimore, Maryland. The recruitment will include outreach through youth-serving organisations, community events, youth networks, social media, snowball sampling and re-contacting adolescents who participated in a prior study (R01HD090022; PI: Mendelson). Participants will complete online questionnaires assessing exposure to pandemic- and race-related stress, CC and EBH twice per year over 4 years as they transition into early adulthood. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach, in-depth interviews exploring the development and impact of CC will be conducted with a subset of participants selected based on their CC scores and, separately, their caregivers. A Youth Advisory Board comprised of adolescents who are representative of our target study population will be developed to provide input on the study and its implementation. Growth mixture modelling and latent variable modelling will be used to analyse quantitative data. Themes identified through qualitative analyses will expand the understanding of quantitative findings. All study procedures were approved by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institutional Review Board. Findings will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at academic conferences. We will also communicate research findings with study participants and disseminate findings to the Baltimore community, such as developing briefs for the Baltimore City Health Department and/or hosting a town hall meeting for Baltimore families.