Online racial discrimination, racial-ethnic identity beliefs, and racism-based traumatic stress symptoms among racially-ethnically minoritized adolescents

Online racial discrimination (ORD) has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, and this rise is associated with negative mental health outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized adolescents. As with offline racial discrimination, ORD can contribute to elevated racism-based traumatic stress (RBTS) symptoms in youth. Racial-ethnic identity beliefs can buffer the harmful effects of racial stressors, but their role in mitigating ORD’s impact on RBTS remains underexplored. This cross-sectional study surveyed a national sample of 651 adolescents of color (44% Black; ages 12–17; Mage = 14.54; 48.4% female) to examine whether ORD exposure uniquely predicted RBTS symptom severity (controlling for offline discrimination and other trauma exposures), and whether racial-ethnic identity beliefs moderated this association. Multiple regression analyses indicated that ORD was a significant unique predictor of higher RBTS symptom levels. However, youth with stronger racial-ethnic identity beliefs—specifically high commitment, affirmation, and belonging beliefs—reported fewer RBTS symptoms, and these beliefs buffered the negative impact of ORD on RBTS. Findings underscore ORD’s unique contribution to RBTS in racially and ethnically minoritized adolescents and highlight strong racial-ethnic identity beliefs as a protective factor against racialized digital harm. These results have implications for youth-focused prevention and intervention efforts.