Investigating the Effects of Changes in Perceived Discrimination on Cognition during Adolescence
Poddar, Avinabo
Poddar, Avinabo
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Abstract
Racial discrimination, defined as unfair treatment based on one�s ethnic or racial identity, represents a significant form of adversity for many youth. Despite being associated with a range of maladaptive outcomes, the link between racial discrimination and cognition remains poorly understood. Using a subset of longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (n=3,328), the present study examined the relationship between changes in racial discrimination and cognition during adolescence, and whether school support mitigated this impact. Participants were followed from ages 9-10 to 13-14. Discrimination was measured using the Perceived Discrimination Scale, cognition via the Flanker Test, and school support via the PhenX protocol. Findings indicated that higher levels of perceived discrimination were correlated with lower cognitive performance at all three timepoints of measurement (r = .08-.12, p < .001). There was no main effect of changes in discrimination on cognition (b = 2.23, SE = 7.11, p = 0.75). However, school support had a significant moderating effect on this relationship (b = 8.04, SE = 2.31, p = <0.001), such that increasing levels of discrimination were associated with better cognition in highly supportive school environments. This result suggests that youth in supportive school contexts may demonstrate a pattern of �positive enhancing� resilience (Luthar et al., 2000), where heightened exposure to stressors is associated with more favorable outcomes. These unexpected findings led us to conduct further analyses to examine differences by racial group, where it was revealed that this significant effect was only seen in Hispanic-identifying adolescents. Our results highlight the critical role of school environments in shaping developmental trajectories and suggest that promoting supportive educational settings may buffer against the consequences of discrimination. Future research should explore the mechanisms driving this resilience and examine whether similar protective effects emerge across other domains of development.
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Date
1/1/2026
Student Status
Senior (Graduating in 2026)
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Oral Presentation
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Psychological Science
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College of Arts and Sciences
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Social Science