Racism and children's health: issues in development.

It has been posited by some social scientists that racism has a negative impact on the health of certain minority groups in the United States. How racism affects the development of children and thus their health, has not been addressed by research in developmental psychology, despite a plethora of studies of racial/ethnic identity development. Existing developmental theories may be amenable to describing and possibly predicting the role that racism plays on child and adolescent development. A model is presented that attempts to explain how racism might affect a child's development and consequently his health by incorporating and synthesizing various developmental principles and social cognition theory. The need for empirical inquiry on this topic is indicated; design suggestions are offered.