[1][2] Many studies have found that Black children are more susceptible to discipline from authority figures, such as police officers and educators.
[3][5][9] Adultification bias can affect the language used when describing children or adolescences of minority groups in the media.
[1][4][10] Educators and authority figures can address adultification bias by improving their cultural competence and communication.
[11][12] Adultification was originally a psychology term describing children who act more mature than their peers as a result of being handed adult responsibilities from a young age.
[3][6][14] Slave owners would then decide when enslaved children made the transition from doing light chores to working hard-labor jobs assigned to adults.
[17][18] This lack of media representation contributes to the ignorance surrounding Black youth and their struggles with forced adultification.
[19] During the 1980s and 1990s, more schools started to rely on policies like drug-sniffing dogs and armed police officers in response to student misbehavior.
[2][9] When Black children speak up over the bias, they are seen as "talking back" or being too assertive rather than expressing their concerns and usually receive some type of disciplinary action.
[3][20] Adultification bias may contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline by having Black children punished in schools and increasing their chances of being placed in prison or wrongfully imprisoned.
[12][22] A 2020 study found that Black youth were less likely to be promptly diagnosed and treated for appendicitis, revealing implicit and structural racial bias in hospitals.