Adolescents' Daily Race-Related Online Experiences and Mental Health Outcomes.

Importance: Despite the rise in exposure to both positive and negative race-related experiences online, research on how these experiences are associated with mental health outcomes is limited. Objective: To examine the associations between negative online race-related experiences (online racial discrimination, traumatic events online, and algorithmic and filter bias), positive racial socialization messages, and mental health outcomes (depressive and anxiety symptoms). Design, Setting, and Participants: This survey study examined data from a nationally representative, intensive longitudinal 7-day daily dairy, collected as part of the National Survey of Critical Digital Literacy. Surveys were administered daily, with a 24-hour response window, in December 2020. Participants included Black or Black biracial or multiracial (parent-identified) adolescents. Participants were part of a larger nationally representative sample of 1138 adolescents, aged 11 to 19 years of various racial and ethnic backgrounds, recruited through Ipsos' KnowledgePanel. One eligible adolescent per household was randomly selected to participate. Analyses were conducted in August 2021 and revised in July 2025. Main Outcomes and Measures: To examine the daily associations between online race-related experiences and mental health outcomes, dynamic structural equation models were estimated for the longitudinal data. Results: Results were drawn from survey responses of 141 Black and Black biracial or multiracial adolescents (mean [SD] age, 14.74 [2.51] years; 80 [56.7%] female). Adolescents reported a total of 6 online race-related experiences per day, including 3.2 that are considered online racism and 2.8 that are positive. The study found experiences of online racial discrimination (γ = 0.12; 95% credible interval [CrI], 0.01-0.21), algorithmic bias (γ = 0.11; 95% CrI, 0.02-0.19), and traumatic events online (γ = 0.10; 95% CrI, 0.01-0.19) were positively associated with next day anxiety symptoms. Online racial discrimination (γ = 0.20; 95% CrI, 0.01-0.33]), traumatic events online (γ = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.04-0.15), and algorithmic bias (γ = 0.13; 95% CrI, 0.03-0.22) were positively associated with next-day depressive symptoms. Positive racial socialization experiences were not associated with mental health outcomes. Conclusions and Relevance: In this survey study of online race-related experiences, Black adolescents, on average, reported experiencing 6 per day. Negative experiences were associated with poor mental health. Because young people can experience algorithms almost constantly, this study suggests more research is needed on related daily mental health outcomes.