Study: Black Girls Feel the Impact of ‘Adultification,’ Especially in School

[A]dultification,” was first documented two years ago by researchers at Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality. Now, a followup study reveals that, not surprisingly, black girls and women sharply feel the impact of “adultification.” As one study participant put it, “[T]o society, we’re not innocent. And white girls are always innocent.”

…They found a near-universal impact. “Almost all the black girls and women we talked to said they’d experienced adultification bias as children,” said co-author Jamilia Blake. “And they overwhelmingly agreed that it led teachers and other adults to treat them more harshly and hold them to higher standards than white girls.”