2-161 - Ethnic-racial identity and academic outcomes: Investigating the relationship and opportunities for intervention

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In recent years, scholars have established that adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity (ERI) is positively related to a host of academic outcomes. However, less is known about the reasons underlying these relationships or if ERI can be enhanced through interventions. In this symposium, three longitudinal studies are presented that address these questions. In the first paper, researchers showed that the relationship between ERI and academic adjustment in Black and Latino middle school youth was moderated by the ERI of their peer groups. Youth who had lower levels of identity resolution and who belonged to a peer group with low levels of resolution had the poorest academic adjustment. In Paper 2, youths’ value of school was assessed as a mediator of the relationship between embedded achievement and approach goal orientations in North African French middle school youth. Embedded achievement was related to approach goal orientations, and valuing of school fully and partially mediated the relationships between embedded achievement and mastery and performance approach goal orientations, respectively. In Paper 3, an 8-week intervention fostered ERI development in youth from various ethnic/racial backgrounds. Compared to the control condition, youth in the treatment condition reported higher levels of exploration 12 weeks post pre-test, and higher resolution 18 weeks post pre-test. Exploration at Time 2 predicted resolution at Time 3. These three papers shed new light on explaining the positive relationship between ERI and academic achievement, and illustrate that interventions can promote the development of ERI in adolescents.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chair

• Adam J. Hoffman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Discussant

• Tiffany Yip, Fordham University

Individual Presentations

• The Influence of Friend Groups on Students’ Ethnic/Racial Identity and Academic Adjustment - Presenting Author: Michael Medina, University of Michigan; Deborah Rivas-Drake, University of Michigan; Abby Medina, University of Michigan

• Academic Motivation Among North African French Adolescents: The Longitudinal Effects of Ethnic Identity and Value of Education - Presenting Author: Adam J. Hoffman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Florence Loose, Montpellier 2 University; Florence Dumas, Nîmes University, France; Annique Smeding, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, France; Beth Kurtz-Costes, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Isabelle Régner, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPC, Marseille, France

• Considering Ethnic-Racial Identity as an Opportunity for Intervention with U.S. Adolescents - Presenting Author: Adriana Umana-Taylor, Arizona State University; Sara Douglass, Arizona State University; Kimberly Updegraff, Arizona State University; Flavio Marsiglia, Arizona State University