Past research has found that stressful events such as racial discrimination can spur social development in racially marginalized youth. Critical consciousness has been identified as one such developmental task. Yet, there is still much to learn regarding the role of racial discrimination in developing critical consciousness, particularly as it relates to the mechanism linking racial discrimination to critical consciousness. We examine whether stress, in the form of psychological distress, may explain the link between online racial discrimination and critical consciousness. Online racial discrimination is a type of racial discrimination and is a growing risk to safe internet use for ethnically and racially marginalized youth. The current study employed a moderated mediation model to examine the associations between online racial discrimination and critical consciousness (critical agency and critical action). Data were from 356 Black and Latino adolescents, 50% each (M_age = 15.97, SD = 1.61), and 78.92% female. The model included psychological distress as a mediator between online racial discrimination and critical consciousness and self-esteem as a moderator of psychological distress and two critical consciousness dimensions. Psychological distress was a successful mediator, and self-esteem moderated the link between psychological distress and critical consciousness dimensions. The present findings suggest that psychological distress may be one mechanism through which online racial discrimination may impact the development of critical consciousness in Black and Latino adolescents.

过去的研究发现，种族歧视等压力事件可以刺激种族边缘化青年的社会发展。批判意识已被确定为此类发展任务之一。然而，关于种族歧视在发展批判意识中的作用，尤其是当它涉及将种族歧视与批判意识联系起来的机制时，还有很多东西需要学习。我们研究以心理困扰形式出现的压力是否可以解释在线种族歧视与批判意识之间的联系。在线种族歧视是一种种族歧视，对在种族和种族上处于边缘地位的青年安全使用互联网的风险越来越大。当前的研究采用调节式调解模型来检查在线种族歧视与批判意识（批判机构和批判行动）之间的关联。数据来自 356 名黑人和拉丁裔青少年，各占 50%（M_年龄 = 15.97，SD = 1.61)，女性占 78.92%。该模型包括心理压力作为在线种族歧视和批判意识之间的中介，以及自尊作为心理压力的调节剂和两个批判意识维度。心理困扰是一个成功的中介，自尊调节心理困扰和批判意识维度之间的联系。目前的研究结果表明，心理困扰可能是在线种族歧视可能影响黑人和拉丁裔青少年批判意识发展的一种机制。