A preliminary investigation of longitudinal associations between ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness among Black and Latinx youth.

OBJECTIVES: In order for parents, educators, and communities to support racially/ethnically minoritized youth to resist and heal from White supremacy, it is important to examine how youths' beliefs about their ethnic-racial identity (ERI) and critical consciousness (CC) around racism inform one another. Despite this need, limited empirical research examines whether these processes are related across adolescence. METHOD: The present two-wave longitudinal study investigates whether ERI content (i.e., centrality, private regard) and CC (i.e., critical social analysis, interpersonal antiracism actions) are associated with one another among Black and Latinx youth N = 233; young women (55.6%); young men (44.4%); M = 14.96 years old, SD = 1.46. RESULTS: Autoregressive cross-lagged panel models suggested that youths' centrality at W1 was positively and significantly associated with a critical social analysis at W2, and critical social analysis at W1 was positively and significantly associated with private regard at W2 for both groups. Involvement in interpersonal antiracism actions at W1 was positively and significantly associated with private regard at W2 for both groups. Group differences existed in the link between centrality at W1 and interpersonal antiracism actions at W2. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that ERI and CC may be viable entry points into stimulating youths' capacity to challenge racism, although there is promise in activating antiracism action to further stimulate ERI development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Reflecting on change: Critical consciousness as a protective factor for Black youth.

OBJECTIVES: The previous decade has seen an abundance of scholarship on the benefits of critical consciousness (CC) for racial and ethnic minority youth. However, it is unclear whether CC is a buffer against the negative effects of racial discrimination on Black adolescents' outcomes. The present study examined whether three CC dimensions buffered against the negative effects of racial discrimination on academic attitudes. METHOD: A total of 205 Black adolescents (Mage = 15.10) reported racial discrimination and CC. We conducted multiple regression analyses for each component of CC to test for their direct and protective effects on academic attitudes. RESULTS: Our results revealed associations between CC dimensions and academic attitudes. Critical reflection and critical action also buffered against racial discrimination's negative effects. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for research on the nature and impact of CC dimensions on racial discrimination and academic attitudes are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Cycles of development in learning about identities, diversity, and equity.

OBJECTIVES: Many scholars and educators have written about how to approach teaching about social identities, diversity, and societal inequity in classrooms and beyond. The current article adds to this literature by considering the developmental trajectories of individuals as they engage in learning opportunities about identities, diversity, and equity. RESULTS: This article details the specific aspects of knowledge that are essential to develop cultural competence and critical consciousness as well as a sequence in which they should be acquired. CONCLUSIONS: Previous models emphasize progressive movement toward more advanced levels, but this article explains how motivation can explain movement and stalling in development. Furthermore, it analyzes the cognitive and motivational antecedents of resistance to diversity learning opportunities. The article concludes with implications for teaching and future directions for research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining Critical Reflection as a Mediator Between School Racial Climate Experiences and Anti-Racist Action.

Little is known about how different school racial climate experiences influence the critical reflection and subsequent critical action behaviors of racially minoritized youth. Therefore, the current study examined how critical reflection mediated the relationship between school racial climate profiles and critical action behaviors. Participants were 559 Black and Latinx adolescents, aged 13-17 who completed an online survey. Results indicated that critical reflection significantly mediated the relationships between interpersonal interactions (i.e., equal status) and anti-racist critical action behaviors. Similarly, the relationships between school racial socialization messages (i.e., cultural and critical consciousness socialization) and anti-racist critical action behaviors were also mediated by critical reflection. Findings have implications for how dimensions of the school racial climate differentially relate to racially minoritized youth's critical consciousness.

Examining school ethnic-racial socialization in the link between race-related stress and academic well-being among African American and Latinx adolescents.

Experiences with race-related stressors at school are linked to negative academic consequences, such as lowered belonging and engagement. One factor known to buffer racial stressors is ethnic-racial socialization (ERS). Although students receive ERS messages in school, less is known about how school ERS may reduce the negative consequences of school race-related stress (SRS) on youth's academic outcomes. To date no studies have examined the moderating effects of school ERS on SRS and whether the associations vary for African American and Latinx youth. Thus, the current study examined the direct effects of SRS and school ERS on youth's academic well-being, the moderating role of school ERS against SRS, and whether these associations varied for African American and Latinx youth. Multiple group regression analysis with 221 African American and 219 Latinx adolescents demonstrated that SRS was negatively associated with the academic outcomes. Cultural socialization was associated with more positive outcomes. Furthermore, there were significant interactions between SRS and color-evasive socialization, such that SRS was associated with lower belonging at higher compared to lower levels of color-evasive messages. Additionally, SRS was associated with less school engagement for those who reported high color-evasive socialization messages, but there was no association for those who reported low color-evasive messages. The results indicate that color-evasive school ERS messages can exacerbate the negative associations between SRS and academic well-being for both African American and Latinx youth and highlight how school racialized experiences may have unique or similar effects across groups. Implications for culturally relevant school practices and interventions are discussed.

School ethnic-racial socialization and adolescent ethnic-racial identity.

OBJECTIVE: Schools are an influential source of information on the meaning of race and culture in society and adolescents' personal lives. Yet, that influence is understudied in the literature on adolescent ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development. Studies of ethnic-racial socialization tend to focus on the family context; the current study measures adolescents' perceptions of ethnic-racial socialization from the school context. METHODS: The sample includes 819 youth aged 12-18 (M = 15.27, SD = 1.58) from 4 ethnic-racial groups. We used structural equation modeling to examine the relations between ethnic-racial socialization and ERI controlling for race, gender, and age. To examine ethnic-racial group membership as a moderator, a multigroup model was used. RESULTS: The findings show that, across ethnic-racial groups, the perceptions of opportunities to learn about one's ethnic-racial background and messages about American values are positively associated with youths' exploration of and commitment to their identities. Furthermore, color-blind socialization messages were associated with lower identity commitment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the importance of the school context in shaping students' ethnic-racial socialization and identity. This study investigated how what adolescents learn about race/ethnicity and culture in school is associated with their ERI. The findings indicate that opportunities to learn about one's culture are related to more identity exploration and greater sense of the importance of group membership. Furthermore, opportunities to learn about other cultures promote positive attitudes toward people of different races/ethnicities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Profiles of ethnic-racial socialization from family, school, neighborhood, and the Internet: Relations to adolescent outcomes.

Given that ecological models of development highlight the interacting influences of multiple environments, further research is needed that explores ethnic-racial socialization from multiple contexts. The current study explores how families, schools, neighborhoods, and the Internet jointly impact academic outcomes, critical consciousness, and psychological well-being in adolescents, both through socialization messages and experiences with racial discrimination. The research questions were: (a) What profiles of multiple contexts of socialization exist? and (b) How are the different profiles associated with academic outcomes, critical consciousness, and psychological well-being? The sample consisted of 1,084 U.S. adolescents aged 13-17 (M = 14.99, SD = 1.37; 49% girls) from four ethnic-racial groups: 25.6% Asian American, 26.3% Black/African American, 25.3% Latinx, and 22.9% White. The participants completed online surveys of socialization and discrimination from four contexts and three types of outcomes: academic outcomes, critical consciousness, and well-being. A latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: Average, High Discrimination, and Positive School. The Positive School class had the most positive academic outcomes and well-being. The High Discrimination class reported the highest critical consciousness. Their academic outcomes and well-being were similar to the Average group. The findings support complexity in perceptions of socialization from different contexts and the associations of socialization with youth outcomes.

A Lifespan Model of Ethnic-Racial Identity.

The current paper presents a lifespan model of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) from infancy into adulthood. We conceptualize that ethnic-racial priming during infancy prompts nascent awareness of ethnicity/race that becomes differentiated across childhood and through adulthood. We propose that the components of ERI that have been tested to date fall within five dimensions across the lifespan: ethnic-racial awareness, affiliation, attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge. Further, ERI evolves in a bidirectional process informed by an interplay of influencers (i.e., contextual, individual, and developmental factors, as well as meaning-making and identity-relevant experiences). It is our goal that the lifespan model of ERI will provide important future direction to theory, research, and interventions.

A measure of school racial socialization and quality of intergroup interactions.

OBJECTIVES: The current study presents a comprehensive framework of campus racial climate and tests the validity and reliability of a new measure, the School Climate for Diversity Scale-College, in three independent samples. The scale measures 10 dimensions of campus racial climate in the two domains of intergroup interactions (frequency of interaction, quality of interaction, equal status, support for positive interaction, and stereotyping) and campus racial socialization (cultural socialization, mainstream socialization, promotion of cultural competence, colorblind socialization, and critical consciousness socialization). METHOD: Participants were college students drawn from an online task system and a public university on the West Coast. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Study 1 provided evidence of reliability and validity with existing measures of college climate, whereas Study 2 provided evidence of factor stability through exploratory factor analysis as well as additional evidence of discriminant and concurrent validity. Finally, Study 3 replicated the factor structure of Study 2 and provided further evidence of validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The complexity of school racial climate: Reliability and validity of a new measure for secondary students.

BACKGROUND: The conceptualization of the role of race and culture in students' experience of school has been limited. This study presents a more comprehensive and multidimensional framework than previously conceptualized and includes the two domains of (1) intergroup interactions (frequency of interaction, quality of interaction, equal status, and support for positive interaction) and (2) school racial socialization (cultural socialization, mainstream socialization, promotion of cultural competence, colourblind socialization, critical consciousness socialization, and stereotyping) (Byrd, 2015, Journal of Educational Research, 108, 10). AIMS: The scale presents a measure of school racial climate for middle and high school students and tests for evidence of reliability and validity in two independent, nationwide samples. SAMPLE AND METHOD: Participants were 819 children aged 12-18 (M = 15.27, SD = 1.58) who completed the School Climate for Diversity - Secondary Scale and a number of validating measures: general school climate, perceived discrimination, culturally responsive teaching, grades, and academic motivation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Confirmatory factor analyses and reliability analyses showed support for the 10-factor structure of the scale, and the subscales were associated with the validating measures in expected ways.

Variations in students' perceived reasons for, sources of, and forms of in-school discrimination: A latent class analysis.

Although there exists a healthy body of literature related to discrimination in schools, this research has primarily focused on racial or ethnic discrimination as perceived and experienced by students of color. Few studies examine students' perceptions of discrimination from a variety of sources, such as adults and peers, their descriptions of the discrimination, or the frequency of discrimination in the learning environment. Middle and high school students in a Midwestern school district (N=1468) completed surveys identifying whether they experienced discrimination from seven sources (e.g., peers, teachers, administrators), for seven reasons (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, religion), and in eight forms (e.g., punished more frequently, called names, excluded from social groups). The sample was 52% White, 15% Black/African American, 14% Multiracial, and 17% Other. Latent class analysis was used to cluster individuals based on reported sources of, reasons for, and forms of discrimination. Four clusters were found, and ANOVAs were used to test for differences between clusters on perceptions of school climate, relationships with teachers, perceptions that the school was a "good school," and engagement. The Low Discrimination cluster experienced the best outcomes, whereas an intersectional cluster experienced the most discrimination and the worst outcomes. The results confirm existing research on the negative effects of discrimination. Additionally, the paper adds to the literature by highlighting the importance of an intersectional approach to examining students' perceptions of in-school discrimination.

The lagged effects of racial discrimination on depressive symptomology and interactions with racial identity.

Scholars agree on the negative impacts of racial discrimination on the mental health of African Americans (Brondolo et al., 2008). Yet research is needed to explore the impacts of everyday discrimination over time, especially compared to nonracial daily hassles, in an ecologically valid manner. It is also widely accepted that racial identity can moderate the impact of racial hassles (Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin, & Lewis 2006), but few studies have examined this moderating effect over time. The current study addresses gaps in the current literature by analyzing the relationship between reported racial and nonracial stressors over the course of four days. Participants were 225 college students at three institutions who participated in a 20-day daily diary study. Each day, participants reported whether they had experienced a stressful event and their depressive symptoms. We compared reports of depressive symptoms the day an event occurred and two days after for racial and nonracial stressors and examined whether racial identity served as a moderator. The results showed that individuals experienced similar increases for racial and nonracial stressors when events occur and similar decreases in the following two days. Additionally, symptom trajectories varied by racial identity. Implications for the understanding of racial discrimination's role in the well-being of African Americans are discussed.

Comparison of African American college students' coping with racially and nonracially stressful events.

Racial discrimination, a common experience for many African Americans, has been conceptualized within a stress and coping framework. However, few have examined whether racially stressful events are appraised and coped with differently from nonracially stressful events. The present study uses a daily diary method to examine African American college students' appraisals and coping behaviors in racially and nonracially stressful situations. The study examines the following 3 questions: 1) Do African Americans appraise racially stressful events differently from nonracially stressful events? 2) Do they cope with racially stressful events differently from nonracially stressful events? and 3) Do they cope with racially stressful events differently from nonracially stressful events, even after controlling for differences in cognitive appraisals of the events? The present sample consists of 35 participants who reported experiencing at least one racially stressful event and at least one nonracially stressful event during a 20-day diary study. Overall, no differences were found in students' appraisals in the racially stressful versus nonracially stressful events. Participants used less planful problem solving and more confrontive, ruminative, and avoidance coping strategies in the racially stressful events as compared with the nonracially stressful events. These findings suggest a need for race-specific models for coping with racial discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial identity and academic achievement in the neighborhood context: a multilevel analysis.

Increasingly, researchers have found relationships between a strong, positive sense of racial identity and academic achievement among African American youth. Less attention, however, has been given to the roles and functions of racial identity among youth experiencing different social and economic contexts. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors examined the relationship of racial identity to academic outcomes, taking into account neighborhood-level factors. The sample consisted of 564 African American eighth-graders (56% male). The authors found that neighborhood characteristics and racial identity related positively to academic outcomes, but that some relationships were different across neighborhood types. For instance, in neighborhoods low in economic opportunity, high pride was associated with a higher GPA, but in more advantaged neighborhoods, high pride was associated with a lower GPA. The authors discuss the need to take youth's contexts into account in order to understand how racial identity is active in the lives of African American youth.