Racial Identity and School Belonging Across the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Student Perceptions and Feelings of Belonging Across COVID and Beyond

Abstract

Objectives: Racial identity—the meaning and significance we ascribe to our racial group membership—is a critical component of adolescents’ interpersonal belongingness. Positive racial identity beliefs are linked to numerous academic benefits (Rivas-Drake, Syed, et al. 2014) and significantly shape youth’s diverse friendships and feelings of educational belonging (Medina, 2019; Rivas‐Drake, D., Seaton, et al., 2014). Combined, these factors raise two timely and urgent questions: how have adolescents’ racial identity beliefs been impacted by the massive social and educational shifts brought on by COVID-19, and what long-term socioemotional and academic outcomes may they experience as a result? We predict that COVID-related social changes, such as friend network disruptions and remote learning, negatively impacted racial identity development and school belonging beliefs among high school students, and this impact has persisted into their college years.

Theoretical Framework: We draw on the Integrated Conceptualization of Ethnic-Racial Identity (Umaña‐Taylor et al., 2014) and the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (Spencer et al., 1997). These theories consider relevance of youth’s relationships and social contexts in identity development, and justify an examination of adolescent racial identity trajectories, specifically as they may have been shaped over time by unprecedented social changes caused by COVID-19.

Methods and Data: Data were gathered in a national longitudinal study of diverse high school and college students. Starting at the 10th grade and extending through their third year of college, students completed in-person and online surveys related to their racial identity beliefs, sense of school belonging, and exposure to friend diversity (Scottham, Sellers, & Nguyên, 2008; Tyler & Degoey, 1995). The analytic sample includes 396 adolescents (51.3% female; 16.4% Asian, 7.8% Black, 25.0% Latinx, 22.7% Multiethnic, 9.2% Other, 18.9% White) from the Western United States. National school closures began during participants’ 12th grade year, but did not disrupt data collection, providing unique insights into their academic experiences and psychosocial outcomes spanning the various stages of the pandemic.

Results: In concordance with extant literature, participants’ racial identity beliefs were stable prior to school closures (Camacho, Medina et al., 2018). Future analyses will examine potential changes in these trajectories following students’ transition to remote learning and their transition to college. Also in line with past work, participants’ exposure to friend diversity was predictive of college friend diversity (Graham, 2018), and this link was strengthened by positive racial identity beliefs. Additional analyses will consider the inverse relationship; the extent to which racial identity is predictive of itself across school contexts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and exposure to friend diversity.

Scholarly Significance: As youth navigate an increasingly diverse population (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015), it is useful to examine the factors involved in their racial identity development. This usefulness is increased as we consider the historic complications adolescents have faced in the wake of COVID-19. As the social and academic ramifications of the pandemic will likely continue to impact lives for the foreseeable future, understanding how it has also shaped adolescent racial identity beliefs and development is a necessary, and achievable, task.

Author

• Michael Alan Medina, Boston University