RALEIGH, N.C. — A recent study shows that Black girls are more likely to show symptoms of depression than Black boys and white teens.

A Ph.D student at N.C. State, McKenzie Stokes is the first author on the paper, Black Girl Blues: The Roles of Racial Socialization, Gendered Racial Socialization, and Racial Identity on Depressive Symptoms among Black Girls.

"Black girls are reporting so many despaired amounts of depressive symptoms," Stokes says. "I wanted to understand why."

The paper, co-authored by Elan C. Hope, Qiana R. Cryer-Coupet, and Erin Elliot, was published in the Journal for Youth and Adolescence.

Their findings were based on national survey data from 287 Black girls between the ages of 13 and 17.

"They reported how frequently they heard messages like, 'you should be proud to be a Black woman, you should love your skin color'...but they also reported how frequently they heard negative messages about Black women," Stokes says. "So, black women with natural hair styles don't look good or Black women typically have bad attitudes."

The research found that more positive messages girls received about being Black, the fewer depressive symptoms they reported. However, the more oppressive messages they heard, the more likely they were to report depressive symptoms.

"We have to understand this, so that we can better treat them and better prevent these symptoms for them," Stokes says.

Stokes says more research like this can help parents and educators talk about race and racial socialization with their children and teens in a way that positively impacts their mental health.