Discrimination most hurtful in teenage years

Carol Forsloff - "These are the years when social identity is arguably more salient among teenagers who are struggling with defining who they are.  Adding on a 'layer' of discrimination is not an easy thing for them to deal with."

Andrew J. Fuligni, a professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human behavior at UCLA said this following a research study on discrimination and its impact on adolescent self-esteem and learning.

Researchers say it's difficult enough to be a teenager in today's world.  Add discrimination to it, and the problems worsen.

In this study, researchers found that adolescents from Asian and Latin American countries suffer more discrimination than peers from European backgrounds and that this impacts negatively how they feel about themselves and how they fare in academic learning.

The findings appeared in the  online edition of the Journal of Research on Adolescence in late 2010.

The research found that teens who suffered more discrimination also reported more physical and emotional symptoms.  It also affected students' grade point average. 

"Discrimination significantly predicted lower GPAs, higher levels of depression, higher levels of distress, lower self-esteem and more physical complaints," Fuligni said. "So the bottom line? Discrimination is harmful."

African American teens have been found most affected by discrimination.  Most maintain they have been victims of it.

Homosexual teens, despite the movement towards acceptance of gay life, continue to feel discriminated against.  In fact the suicide rate is higher in this age group because of feelings of discrimination by peers.

Teen life is difficult enough.  Discrimination adds to the difficulty, which is why experts remind parents to teach their children values so they don't bully one another with words or behaviors, as the result can be harmful in later years for those they hurt.