Ethnic-racial Identities, Racial Biases, Perceived Discrimination, & Family Socialization Practices Among Emerging Adults

• In Event: 3-015 - Contextual and Longitudinal Assessments of Risk and Protective Factors for Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Across Three Countries

Integrative Statement

Incidents of discrimination are on the rise in the US, as are both extreme and subtle displays of racist rhetoric, including anti-immigrant/immigration policy and views (Androff et al., 2011). Unfortunately, perceiving discrimination against oneself or one’s ethnic/racial group can have long-term deleterious effects on an individual’s health and well-being (Marks, Ejesi, McCullough & Garcia Coll, 2015). At the same time, family socialization practices around ethnic-racial identity development can serve as protective processes that may buffer the effects of perceived discrimination (e.g., Brittian et al., 2013; Su, Lee, Gries, & Tran 2017). The current study explores relations among ethnic-racial identity exploration and commitment, implicit racial biases, and family ethnic-racial socialization practices on the perceived discrimination experiences of emerging adults.

184 college-enrolled emerging adults (mean age 20 years) completed a series of questionnaires and an implicit bias measure online. In addition to established measures of ethnic/racial identity, discrimination, ethnic/racial socialization, and biases, we included a new measure of caregiver socialization specifically about discrimination (designed for this study). Just under half of the participants (43%) self-identified as Caucasian/White. The remaining participants reported Asian (13%), Biracial (10%), Black/ African American (8%), Black African (9%), Latinx (10%), and a variety of other mixed ethnicities (14%). 20% of the sample was born outside the U.S., and 40% spoke at least one language other than English proficiently. Students reported a moderate amount of perceived discrimination (mean = 2.67, scale of 1-4), with no significant differences by US nativity, ethnic/racial identification, or gender.

Confirming prior studies, parent ethnic/racial socialization practices were strongly associated with ethnic identity exploration and commitment (r’s = .59 and .50, respectively, p<.001). These associations were particularly strong for emerging adults who identified with ethnic/racial labels other than Caucasian/White. Further, the greater parents’ ethnic/racial socialization, the less likely emerging adults were to report personal experiences of discrimination (r = -.15, p <.05). Emerging adults’ ethnic/racial identity exploration and commitment also were related to reporting lower levels of perceived discrimination (r’s = -.22 and -.36, respectively, p<.01), indicating some protective roles for both family socialization and ethnic/racial identity development against perceiving discrimination.

Using multilevel regression techniques, the combined effects of background variables (U.S. nativity status and ethnic/label identification), alongside ethnic/racial socialization, ethnic identity, and implicit biases were explored to better understand students’ perceived discrimination. In the first step of modeling, only family ethnic/racial socialization (β = -.15) – and not background variables or discrimination socialization – was related to students’ perceived levels of discrimination. Next, ethnic identity variables appeared to mediate the effect of family ethnic/racial socialization on discrimination through ethnic identity commitment (and not exploration, β = -.59; model R2 = .16). Lastly, reporting a racial bias in the implicit task significantly was associated with increased perceptions of discrimination. These findings suggest parent ethnic/racial socialization, but not preparation for bias, is a key mechanism for promoting ethnic/racial identity commitment, a potent protective factor against the perception of discrimination. On the other hand, holding unexamined biases of one’s own may pose some risk for perceiving discrimination from others.

Authors

• Amy K Marks, Suffolk University
  Presenting Author

• Kida Ejesi, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
  Non-Presenting Author