Intergenerational Consequences of Racism in the United Kingdom

In this Papers Podcast, Dr. Yasmin Ahmadzadeh discusses her co-authored CAMH journal paper ‘Intergenerational consequences of racism in the United Kingdom: a qualitative investigation into parents’ exposure to racism and offspring mental health and well-being’. Yasmin was the principal investigator on the TRADE project, which stands for ‘Transmission of experiences of Racism, Anxiety and Depression in families’.

• Definition of racism, what is currently known about the experiences of racism and how the experiences are linked to negative mental and physical health outcomes amongst those exposed.
• Why this area has been largely neglected in the research community within the UK, with most studies coming from the US.
• The bidirectional nature of parent and child experiences of racism with indirect effects impacting mental health and wellbeing in both generations.
• The difficulties in families where parent and child approaches differ in relation to active coping strategies and denial of racism.
• How one might reduce harms when talking about racism with children and young people.
• Protective factors and the importance of social cohesion, safe spaces and education.
• Recommendations for CAMH professionals.