This report is a rapid evidence synthesis on racism and child and youth health commissioned by VicHealth to inform policy, practice and research� Racism and racial discrimination are fundamental causes and determinants of health and health inequalities globally� Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to racism's harms� Intergroup attitudes, beliefs and behaviours are also established in childhood, making this a priority time for action�
Understanding race and racismRacism is an organised system of oppression that classifies and ranks social groups into 'races' and devalues, disempowers and differentially allocates power and resources to those considered inferior� Race has no biological basis and is not a biological reality� Yet race is a powerful predictor of which groups have access to opportunities and resources in society and which groups face barriers� Racism is frequently conceptualised across 3 distinct, but interrelated, levels: a) Systemic or structural racism: structural racism is "the totality of ways in which societies foster [racial] discrimination, via mutually reinforcing [inequitable] systems"� Institutional racism "refers specifically to racially adverse "discriminatory policies and practices carried out…[within and between individual] institutions" on the basis of racialised group membership�" b) Interpersonal racism: discrimination between people, with varying degrees of frequency and intensity, including racially-motivated assault to verbal abuse, ostracism and exclusion� c) Internalised (or intrapersonal) racism: attitudes, beliefs, or ideologies often founded on understandings of supposedly innate superiority/inferiority, that may be held either by members of dominant social groups and/ or by subordinate ones�
Pathways by which racism impacts child and youth healthRacism harms child and youth health through direct exposure to racism and pathways of stressor exposure as well as through the structural and societal legacies of historical and contemporary racism on communities, families and carers and their access to resources� 1) Racism leads to differential access to socioeconomic resources and to a broad range of societal resources and opportunities needed for health. Systemic racism within healthcare, education, housing, employment, the media and online, and in policing and criminal justice systems are key mechanisms by which racism can influence socioeconomic inequalities�2) Racism can increase exposure to, and exacerbate negative effects of, other risk factors for health. Racism initiates and sustains some types of stressors such as discrimination and historical trauma but it can also affect the levels, clustering and impact of stressors such as unemployment, financial stress, neighbourhood violence or physical/ chemical exposures in residential and work environments� 3) Behavioural, physiological and psychological responses to racism, as well as individual and collective resilience, are also important mechanisms shaping health outcomes� For example, reduced healthy behavio...