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Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study

Hatem Mona, Rebecca Lacey Orcid Logo, Ann John Orcid Logo

BMJ Mental Health, Volume: 28, Issue: 1, Start page: e301668

Swansea University Authors: Hatem Mona, Ann John Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1136/bmjment-2025-301668

Abstract

Background Experience of racism is considered a predictor of ill health and poor well-being at all ages. Few studies examining the relationship between racism, mental health and self-harm are longitudinal. The aim of this study was to examine these associations longitudinally among youth in England....

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Published in: BMJ Mental Health
ISSN: 2755-9734
Published: BMJ 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70541
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last_indexed 2026-01-20T05:29:29Z
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spelling 2026-01-19T10:51:31.7428551 v2 70541 2025-09-30 Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study 84459cae8fe2261f42bfc57d621c9a45 Hatem Mona Hatem Mona true false ed8a9c37bd7b7235b762d941ef18ee55 0000-0002-5657-6995 Ann John Ann John true false 2025-09-30 MEDS Background Experience of racism is considered a predictor of ill health and poor well-being at all ages. Few studies examining the relationship between racism, mental health and self-harm are longitudinal. The aim of this study was to examine these associations longitudinally among youth in England.Methods The data were obtained from the Next Steps Longitudinal Study on participants born in 1989–1990 in England. Waves 4 (2007) and 8 (2015) were used to measure associations between experiencing racism at age 17 and mental health outcomes at age 25. Logistic regression analyses were conducted. Multiple imputation was used to address missing data.Findings Compared with those who did not experience racism, participants who experienced racism at 17 years scored 0.58 (95% CI 0.16 to 1.00) points higher in psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-12) at age 25. No clear associations were found for overall life satisfaction (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.34, p=0.597), self-harm (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.40 to 1.56, p=0.494) or longstanding mental illness (OR 1.31, 95% CI 0.80 to 2.13, p=0.280).Conclusion Exposure to racism at youth increased the risk of psychological distress, but not life satisfaction, self-harm or longstanding mental illnesses for young adults in England. Ongoing and future longitudinal studies exploring racism and mental health should incorporate electronic health records and validated measures of racism to better understand its effects on mental health across the life course. Journal Article BMJ Mental Health 28 1 e301668 BMJ 2755-9734 10 10 2025 2025-10-10 10.1136/bmjment-2025-301668 COLLEGE NANME Medical School COLLEGE CODE MEDS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) DATAMIND (MR/W014386/1); National Centre for Suicide and Self-harm Prevention (NCSSHP) 2026-01-19T10:51:31.7428551 2025-09-30T13:11:18.6017882 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science Hatem Mona 1 Rebecca Lacey 0000-0002-3510-0795 2 Ann John 0000-0002-5657-6995 3 70541__36041__73cc417b426e41619236a186909a405a.pdf 70541.VoR.pdf 2026-01-19T10:49:01.8248470 Output 423019 application/pdf Version of Record true © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
spellingShingle Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
Hatem Mona
Ann John
title_short Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
title_full Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
title_fullStr Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
title_full_unstemmed Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
title_sort Experience of racism in young people and future mental health in England: longitudinal analysis from the Next Steps Study
author_id_str_mv 84459cae8fe2261f42bfc57d621c9a45
ed8a9c37bd7b7235b762d941ef18ee55
author_id_fullname_str_mv 84459cae8fe2261f42bfc57d621c9a45_***_Hatem Mona
ed8a9c37bd7b7235b762d941ef18ee55_***_Ann John
author Hatem Mona
Ann John
author2 Hatem Mona
Rebecca Lacey
Ann John
format Journal article
container_title BMJ Mental Health
container_volume 28
container_issue 1
container_start_page e301668
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2755-9734
doi_str_mv 10.1136/bmjment-2025-301668
publisher BMJ
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science
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description Background Experience of racism is considered a predictor of ill health and poor well-being at all ages. Few studies examining the relationship between racism, mental health and self-harm are longitudinal. The aim of this study was to examine these associations longitudinally among youth in England.Methods The data were obtained from the Next Steps Longitudinal Study on participants born in 1989–1990 in England. Waves 4 (2007) and 8 (2015) were used to measure associations between experiencing racism at age 17 and mental health outcomes at age 25. Logistic regression analyses were conducted. Multiple imputation was used to address missing data.Findings Compared with those who did not experience racism, participants who experienced racism at 17 years scored 0.58 (95% CI 0.16 to 1.00) points higher in psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-12) at age 25. No clear associations were found for overall life satisfaction (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.34, p=0.597), self-harm (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.40 to 1.56, p=0.494) or longstanding mental illness (OR 1.31, 95% CI 0.80 to 2.13, p=0.280).Conclusion Exposure to racism at youth increased the risk of psychological distress, but not life satisfaction, self-harm or longstanding mental illnesses for young adults in England. Ongoing and future longitudinal studies exploring racism and mental health should incorporate electronic health records and validated measures of racism to better understand its effects on mental health across the life course.
published_date 2025-10-10T05:31:42Z
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