Apr 18, 2022
2 minutes reading
Source/Revelations
disclosures:
Tumin does not report any relevant financial disclosures. See the study for the relevant financial disclosures from all other authors.
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One study found that trends toward racial “resegregation” in school are associated with increased behavioral problems in black school-age children and unhealthier drinking, especially among girls.
The authors of the study, which was published in Pediatrics, noted that while the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education decision ruled racial segregation in schools to be unconstitutional, courts have relaxed desegregation policies over the past 3 decades.
“Attending highly segregated schools, a common experience for black children, can be a particularly striking determinant of health inequalities,” they wrote. “School segregation can negatively impact the health and behavior of black children through reduced school quality and increased exposure to racial discrimination. Conversely, school segregation could plausibly improve health outcomes by reducing the interpersonal racism exposure of white peers or teachers. However, evidence on the health effects of school segregation is scarce.”
The researchers examined data from the 1997 to 2014 editions of the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which included 1,248 black children living in districts under orders of desegregation.
Ultimately, they found that greater school segregation was associated with more behavioral problems that could affect students’ long-term well-being, with an increase of one standard deviation in school segregation associated with increased behavioral problems (2.53 points on a 27-point 95%-point scale). CI 0.26-4.8), probability of ever having consumed alcohol (0.23; 95% CI 0.049-0.42), and drinking at least monthly (0.2; 95% CI 0.053-0, 35).
“The results for behavioral problems are consistent with previous literature linking social, racial and economic marginalization to inequalities in behavioral problems in children,” they wrote. “Children who are consistently exposed to stressful family and neighborhood environments may have more difficulty coping with mental and emotional challenges and may experience impaired cognitive development. Here, school segregation can lead to increased child stress.”
The authors concluded that the results showed that interventions are needed to improve schools for black children – including reintegration, reforming school funding formulas and reducing harsh treatment of black children – but added that more research is needed to assess the effects of such policies on education and health inequality.
In an accompanying commentary, Dmitry TuminPhDprofessor of pediatrics at East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, called the study “a timely reminder that the damage of school segregation persists and extends beyond the walls of the school building.”
“Despite greater structural forces, such as residential segregation, and the role of individual families’ beliefs and choices, recent research suggests that action at the school and district level may have critical implications for exacerbating or reversing trends in resegregation at the school level. schools,” Tumin wrote. † “Building on the current study, future work leveraging local health data would help reveal how advocacy at this level could undo the damage that school segregation has caused and continues to cause.”
References:
Tumin D. Pediatrics. 2021;doi:10.1542/peds.2022-056416.
WangG, et al. Pediatrics. 2022;doi:10.1542/peds.2021-055952.
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