Racial Trauma and Wellbeing in Black Youth: A Critical Review of Interventions in the US

Background and Purpose: Racial trauma or race-based stress is a prevalent problem linked to systemic racism in the US. Previous studies indicate that Black youth experience racial trauma more than other ethno-racial groups, which increases their risk of poor psychological functioning. Racial socialization can be a protective factor for healthy development and may alleviate the effects of racial trauma in youth. The family is the first and most significant social environment responsible for the socialization and wellbeing of the youth and thus plays a critical role in racial socialization. This study builds on previous reviews by examining the components and efficacy of psychological interventions focused on racial trauma and/or racial socialization in Black youth within the family setting.

Methods: The researchers searched Social Services Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, PsycInfo, and Educational Resources Information Center databases, and Cochran Review up to February 2023. We also reviewed the reference list and the Google Scholar citations of selected intervention articles for additional studies. For the search, we used syntax variations for key terms: racial trauma, racial socialization, youth, Black, and intervention. We included studies that conducted in the USA, written in English, peer-reviewed, included Black youth up to 17 years old and/or their parent/caregiver (s), and implemented a therapeutic intervention to address racial trauma and/or racial socialization with a parent component. We used the PRISMA checklist and risk of bias tool to evaluate the quality of each study. Finally, we synthesized each study’s findings.

Results: The search yielded 6029 articles but only five met inclusion criteria: three studies evaluated Strong African-American Families (SAAF, N= 667 families) and one study each evaluated Celebrating Strength of Black Youth (CSBY, N= 73 dyads) and Engaging Managing Bonding through Race for Black Families (Embrace, N= 20 dyads). All the youth and parent/caregiver participant in each study identified as Black. Parents were mostly mother figures (89-100%) with age range 30-54 and education attainment from some high school to graduate degree. Youth age ranged from 7-16 years old and were mostly males for CSBY, equal males and females for Embrace, and mostly females for SAAF. SAAF was the only intervention with longitudinal results. All intervention had sessions focused on racial socialization strategies, racial pride, and/or racial discrimination. For the evaluation, CSBY and SAAF implemented randomization to treatment and control group design but Embrace implemented a one-group pretest/posttest design. Overall, CSBY found no intervention effects for parent’s racial socialization messages. Embrace did not conduct inferential statistics due to the small sample size but found positive program trends on youth and parents’ stress coping. Finally, all intervention studies on SAAF found treatment direct and indirect effects on various youth outcomes (e.g. psychological functioning, Black pride, sexual activity, alcohol use) through racial socialization.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings highlight the feasibility of implementing intervention focused on racial trauma and socialization with Black families from different socioeconomic status and youth of various ages. However, we need more research studies on racial trauma and socialization interventions to evaluate their effects on parent and youth outcomes.