Online racism and psychotic experiences among Black American and Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander American emerging adults in the United States

Background: Racially and ethnically minoritized emerging adults in the United States have a higher prevalence of psychotic experiences when compared to their White peers. Racism gives rise to social stressors, including ethno-racial discrimination, which can increase the risk for psychotic experiences. Racism is ever-shapeshifting into new forms of racism, including online racism, yet little research has examined its associations with psychotic experiences. Methods: We used Qualtrics panels to recruit emerging adults, including Black (N = 1200) and Asian American/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian (N = 1600). Using multivariable logistic regression, we examined the association between online racism (Online Racism Scale – Very Brief) and psychotic experiences (reporting at least one psychotic experience using the WHO CIDI psychosis screen), controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, everyday discrimination, internet usage, and mental health. Results: Approximately 42 % of the sample reported a lifetime psychotic experience. In multivariable logistic regression models, a one-unit increase on the online racism scale was associated with a 13 % increase in odds of having a lifetime psychotic experience. This association attenuated slightly after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and further attenuated after adjusting for everyday discrimination, total internet usage, and depression and anxiety. After accounting for all covariates, a one-unit increase in online racism was associated with a 5 % increase in odds of psychotic experiences. Conclusion: Online racism is more common than in-person discrimination, and people of color use social media platforms at high rates, where they inevitably face various types of online racism. Online racism is pervasive, often anonymous, and unmoderated, and these exposures are associated with greater odds of psychotic experiences.