Online racism, online mental health engagement, depression, and suicide risk among Asian American and Pacific Islander and Black American emerging adults
Front Public Health. 2026 Feb 26;14:1745978. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1745978. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Recent studies suggest that exposure to racist online interactions and content may be associated with depressive symptoms and suicide risk among racially minoritized individuals. Despite the hate and violence easily encountered online, individuals use social media platforms to engage with their mental health concerns and seek support. Hence, the current study aimed to explore whether online mental health engagement would buffer the depressive symptoms and suicide risk associated with online racism among Black and Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) emerging adults (18-29) who are exposed to anti-Black and anti-Asian hate online.
METHOD: Using survey data from 1,224 Black (Mage = 23.99, SD = 3.11) and 1,553 AAPI (Mage = 23.96, SD = 3.29) emerging adults, we conducted latent moderated structural equation modeling to examine online mental health engagement as a moderator between online racism and depressive symptoms, and online racism and suicide outcomes [suicide ideation in the past 2 weeks, lifetime suicide ideation, past-year suicide ideation, lifetime suicide attempt, past-year suicide attempt, and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI)].
RESULTS: For both groups, online mental health engagement associated with a stronger link between online racism and suicide-related risk. For AAPI emerging adults, higher levels of engagement significantly amplified the association between online racism and suicidal ideation (recent and lifetime), suicide attempts (lifetime), NSSI, and depressive symptoms. For Black emerging adults, this risk-exacerbating finding was observed only for recent suicidal ideation.
DISCUSSION: The findings highlight the suicide risk that may be associated with online racism and concerns regarding the helpfulness of online mental health engagement.
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