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Individual Oral Paper

Suicide and Self-Injury

Trauma and PTSD: Risk Factors, Comorbidities, and Population Specific PTSD Dynamics

7 - (IOP 5) Examining Multidimensional Discrimination, Traumatic Violence Exposure in the Media, Racial Trauma, and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in a Sample of Diverse Youth

Friday, November 21, 2025
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM CST
Location: Celestin G, Level 3
Keywords: Suicide, Adolescents, Racial Trauma
Recommended Readings: Baiden, P., LaBrenz, C. A., Onyeaka, H. K., Muoghalu, C., Nicholas, J. K., Spoor, S. P., Bock, E., & Taliaferro, L. A. (2022). Perceived racial discrimination and suicidal behaviors among racial and ethnic minority adolescents in the United States: Findings from the 2021 adolescent behaviors and experiences survey. Psychiatry Research, 317, 114877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114877,   Oh, H., Stickley, A., Koyanagi, A., Yau, R., & DeVylder, J. E. (2019). Discrimination and suicidality among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, 517–523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.059,   Maxie-Moreman, A. D., & Tynes, B. M. (2022). Exposure to Online Racial Discrimination and Traumatic Events Online in Black Adolescents and Emerging Adults. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 32(1), 254–269. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12732,   ,  
Objectives Prior literature has established a link between experiences of discrimination, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). However, with the uptick of exposure to online media violence (i.e., hate crimes and police brutality), no recent studies have examined the associations among discrimination, traumatic online violence exposure, and STBs. This study examines the associations among multidimensional forms of discrimination, traumatic online violence exposure, racial trauma symptoms, and STBs.
Methods The sample includes US adolescents 13-17 years-old via a cross-sectional study. Adolescents completed a survey to assess four discrimination subtypes (chronic, acute, online-vicarious, and online-individual), traumatic online violence exposure, racial trauma, and STBs. Finally, adolescents provided qualitative responses to answer whether they believed the experiences contributed to their STBs.
Results Elevated rates of discriminatory experiences and reactions to traumatic online violence exposure were independently associated with the experience of racial trauma symptoms (ps < .0001). Only chronic discrimination and traumatic online violence exposure reactions were associated with lifetime STBs and past-month suicidal ideation (ps < .0001). Furthermore, racial trauma symptom severity did not mediate the associations between discrimination and traumatic online violence exposure, and past-month suicidal ideation. Lastly, exploratory topic modeling was conducted for six open-text responses from adolescents reporting whether exposure to these events contributed to their STBs.
Conclusions This preliminary examination revealed significant associations among discrimination, traumatic online violence exposure, racial trauma, and STBs. Future studies should continue to examine how concurrent exposure to these events impacts suicidality.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Understand associations between the cumulative discrimination and media violence exposure on adolescent mental health and suicidality.