Historic racial disparities in the United States have created an urgent need for evidence‐based strategies promoting African American students’ academic performance via school‐based ethnic‐racial socialization and identity development. However, the temporal order among socialization, identity, and academic performance remains unclear in extant literature. This longitudinal study examined whether school cultural socialization predicted 961 African American adolescents’ grade point averages through their ethnic‐racial identities (49.6% males;
- Award ID(s):
- 1911722
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10269428
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Child development
- ISSN:
- 1467-8624
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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M age = 13.60; 91.9% qualified for free lunch). Results revealed that youth who perceived more school cultural socialization had better grades 1 and 2 years later. In addition, identity commitment (but not exploration) fully mediated these relations. Implications for how educators can help adolescents of color succeed in schools are discussed. -
Theory and empirical evidence indicate that ethnic-racial discrimination serves as a risk factor for adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, whereas ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development promotes positive youth adjustment and can mitigate the negative outcomes of discrimination-related risk. In Colombia, the legacies of an ethnic-racial hierarchy, mestizaje ideology (i.e., the assumption that everyone is racially mixed), and contemporary multiculturalism education reforms create a unique context for understanding adolescents’ experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination, ERI development, and their implications for psychosocial adjustment. In this study of Colombian adolescents (N = 462; Mage = 15.90 years; 47.3% female), almost 40% of participants reported experiencing ethnic-racial-based discrimination. Experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination was associated with lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms, whereas higher ERI resolution (i.e., gaining sense of clarity about ethnic-racial group membership) and affirmation (i.e., feeling positively about ethnic-racial group membership) were associated with higher self-esteem and lower depressive symptoms. ERI exploration (i.e., learning history and gaining knowledge about ethnic-racial group membership) was also associated with higher self-esteem and moderated the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms, such that this association was stronger at higher compared to lower levels of ERI exploration. Findings provide novel evidence for ethnic-racial-related risk and resilience processes among Colombian youth.more » « less
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Family ethnic socialization (FES) is a critical component of youth ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development. However, little research has focused on FES experiences amongst White families. The current study applied a convergent mixed methods design to investigate how immigration generational status (i.e., number of U.S.-born parents and grandparents) was associated with FES within White American families and the extent to which that informed adolescents’ ERI development. Utilizing survey data for White adolescents’ ( N = 532) self-reported FES experiences and ERI exploration and resolution, quantitative path analyses testing for mediation indicated that, as adolescents reported more family members born in the U.S., their FES experiences were lower and, in turn, their ERI exploration and resolution were also lower. FES fully mediated the relation between generational status and their ERI exploration and resolution. A theoretical thematic analysis of focus group data from a subsample of participants offered insights into how White adolescents described their FES experiences, illustrating the integral role of parents and grandparents for learning about their ethnic heritage, school’s role in facilitating FES, and various methods of maintaining familial collective cultural memory. The current study offers preliminary insights into FES among White families and identifies new questions for exploration future research.
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The present study examined the impact of COVID‐19‐related racial discrimination on Chinese American adolescents (
N = 213;M age = 13.95 years,SD = 2.35; 49% girls) at the intersection of race and gender. We explored (1) subgroups of adolescents based on ethnic identity, bicultural identity integration, and behavioral acculturation; (2) their demographic correlates; and (3) whether the association between racial discrimination and anxiety varied across subgroups and gender. Latent profile analysis identified three profiles:bicultural ,marginalized , andseparated .Bicultural andmarginalized adolescents were vulnerable to direct and vicarious racial discrimination, respectively. Moreover,bicultural andmarginalized boys andseparated girls were more negatively affected by COVID‐19‐related racial discrimination. The findings highlight the utility of person‐centered and intersectional approaches in understanding Chinese American adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination. -
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Experiences of racial discrimination have been found to be associated with internalizing problems among ethnic–racial minority youth. However, mediating and moderating processes that might explain this association is less well understood. Thus, the present study aimed to examine whether Chinese American adolescents’ bicultural identity integration harmony (BII-Harmony) mediated the association between their experiences of racial discrimination and internalizing behaviors. Furthermore, we examined the moderating role of their parents’ BII-Harmony in this mediation model. Chinese American adolescents ( Mage= 13.9 years; SD = 2.3; 48% female) reported their experiences of racial discrimination and BII-Harmony, and their parents ( Mage= 46.2 years; SD = 5.2; 81% mothers) reported their BII-Harmony and their children’s internalizing difficulties. Chinese American adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences were negatively associated with BII-Harmony, and in turn, more internalizing problems, but only when their parents also reported low and mean levels of BII-Harmony.
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13632
