Relations among Racially and Geographically Diverse Adolescents’ ERI Public Regard, Centrality, and Other Group Orientation

• In Event: 3-215 - Relations among Diverse Adolescents’ ERI, National Identities, and Their Attitudes Towards Intergroup Contact

Integrative Statement

By 2044, the U.S. will be majority non-white (Colby & Ortman, 2015). As U.S. society diversifies, adolescents’ interest in and skills for interethnic interaction will be an essential facet of positive development. Conceptual work suggests that adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity (ERI) may inform the development of these important skills, yet few empirical studies have tested these ideas.

Our study explored how ERI public regard (PR) and ERI centrality related to how much adolescents took interest in and enjoyed interaction with ethnic outgroup members (i.e., other group orientation; OGO). Public Regard refers to individuals’ beliefs about how outgroups view their ethnic-racial group, and centrality captures the importance of individuals’ ERI to their self-concept. Drawing from prior findings that students’ perceptions of their peers’ racial attitudes relate to their interest in intergroup contact (e.g., Rivas-Drake et al., 2018), we hypothesized that PR would be positively associated with OGO. In addition, we hypothesized that centrality would be negatively associated with OGO, in line with prior findings that stronger centrality was positively associated with outgroup-directed bias (Lecci & Johnson, 2008; Morrison, Plaut, & Ybrarra, 2010). Lastly, we explored whether these relations differed among White, Latinx, and Black adolescents in two distinct U.S. regions (i.e., Southwest and Midwest) given these groups’ different social positions and geographical contexts.

Cross-sectional data came from Southwestern and Midwestern U.S high school students. The Southwestern sample (n = 1,891; Mgrade = 10.4, SD = 1.12; 47% male) was 41.14% White, 30.04% Black, and 28.82% Latinx. The Midwestern sample (n = 707; Mgrade = 10.3, SD = 1.02; 52% male) was 64.50% White, 27.44% Black, and 8.06% Latinx. Measures included centrality (3 items,α=.67) and PR (3 items, α=.75) from Scottham et al., (2008), and OGO (6 items, α=.75; Phinney, 1992).

Findings based on multigroup SEM models, in which students were grouped by ethnic-racial background and site, provided partial support for our hypotheses (Figure 1). Our final model was determined by comparing sequentially more constrained models using chi-square difference tests (with a significant change in chi square indicating that groups being compared could not be constrained to be equal; Table 1). The final model indicated that the relations between PR and centrality predicting OGO did not significantly differ for members of the same ethnic group across sites. PR was positively associated with OGO for White and Latinx youth, but there was no significant relation for Black youth. Thus, as White and Latinx adolescents felt others viewed their ethnic racial group more positively, they were more likely to feel positively toward relationships with ethnic outgroup members. Finally, although centrality was negatively associated with OGO for White adolescents, this association was not significant for Black or Latinx adolescents, suggesting that when White students viewed their ERI as more central to their self-concept, they were less likely to feel positively toward relationships with ethnic outgroup members. Discussion will center on the importance of considering ethnic-racial group differences in whether and how various aspects of ERI inform adolescents’ positive dispositions toward intergroup relationships.

Authors

• Kristia Wantchekon, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Adriana Umaña-Taylor, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elana R. McDermott, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Deborah Rivas-Drake, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Abunya Medina, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author