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;
Promoting adolescent adjustment by intervening in ethnic-racial identity development: Opportunities for developmental prevention science and considerations for a global theory of change
Identity formation is a fundamental developmental process that has significant consequences for youth adjustment during adolescence and beyond. This article presents evidence indicating that ethnic-racial identity, specifically, is an important developmental competency on which prevention science should focus in the interest of promoting positive youth development. Findings from the initial efficacy testing of the Identity Project, an ethnic-racial identity prevention program grounded in developmental theory, are presented and discussed. Moreover, preliminary evidence of the intervention’s potential when implemented by teachers is introduced, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data from a recent study. Taking a broader perspective, future directions for research are presented with a specific focus on considering how experiences of ethnoracial marginalization and racialized othering in countries across the globe may make this work relevant to contexts outside the United States. Finally, the possibility of a global theory of change is introduced, and the potential benefits of implementing programs such as the Identity Project in other countries are discussed.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10402825
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Behavioral Development
- Volume:
- 47
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0165-0254
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 352-365
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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