Session: Navigating Educational Landscapes: Exploring the Impact of School Environments on the Mental Health and Identity Formation of Black and Native Youth (Society for Social Work and Research 29th Annual Conference)

Schools play a crucial role in shaping adolescent health and development, serving as spaces where youth form much of their early experiences and identities. While schooling contributes to academic and social growth, Black and Native youth may also experience the milieu of schools as harmful. Education systems can act as colonizing spaces that undermine students' sense of dignity by upholding racist and classist ideologies, considering them as outsiders unless they adopt White behaviors and practices. It is conventional to denote benchmarks of healthy development and positive adjustment using accessible indicators such as academic achievement; however, for youth of color, higher levels of academic success do not always translate to positive health outcomes. As they make sense of their identities in school spaces, young people acquire social knowledge by observing social patterns and nonverbal messages. For example, young people in racially diverse schools observe who is in advanced courses and who is not. This panel centers Black and Native youth's perspectives, knowledges, and choices as they navigate complex landscapes of school and community contexts.

Presenter 1 uses survey analysis of 1700 Black adolescents to examine whether the association between Black youth's school climate perceptions and depression differs by socioeconomic status or sex. Findings indicate that positive perceptions of school climate were linked to reduced depression rates among Black adolescents, with stronger effects observed among girls. While family income did not alter the relationship between school climate and depression, neighborhood income had varying effects: boys in low-income neighborhoods didn't benefit from a positive school climate, whereas all girls experienced benefits, particularly those in higher-income neighborhoods. Implications for research on school environments and mental health for Black youth are discussed.

Presenter 2 uses social network survey data of ~400 Alaska Native youth to analyze and describe social support networks among Alaska Native youth, including sources (e.g. parents, other family, friends, clinicians, teachers), frequencies, and types of support that Alaska Native youth report giving and receiving in their schools and communities. Findings indicate that parents, close friends, and other family members are the most frequent givers and recipients of Alaska Native youth support, particularly for support in times of stress. Implications for supporting mental wellness through school and community social work practice with Native youth are discussed.

Presenter 3 will use a decolonial, transdisciplinary approach to review an emerging transnational theory of Collective Black Consciousness. This theory, rooted in pre-colonial and contemporary African and Afro-diasporic wisdom, demonstrates the ways of thinking and being that have allowed Black people globally to strive towards collective growth, love, and joy as they fight for a more liberated reality for themselves and the world. Synergies within historical and contemporary racial justice movements across the globe, which are reflected in dimensions of Collective Black Consciousness, and the use of this theory to inform research on Black youth, school experiences, and healthy development are discussed.54.251.100 on 4-15-2024-->