2-016 - Integrating Racially/Ethnically Diverse Adolescents’ Racial/Ethnic Experiences in Critical Consciousness Research

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Critical consciousness (CC) theory and research acknowledge that adolescents of color face systemic and interpersonal racism (Watts, Diemer, & Voight, 2011). However, the literature has framed racism as a backdrop in adolescents’ of color development, overlooking the ways in which they learn about race and racism, undergo changes in their beliefs about racism, and engage in behaviors that address racism in their lives. Additionally, White adolescents’ racial experiences have not been considered in CC research, implying that White people do not have a role in dismantling racism. In this symposium, authors will address these gaps in the literature. Papers 1 and 3 focus on adolescents’ of color critical racial reflection development (i.e., awareness and attributions of racism and racial inequality). Paper 1 examines changes in Black and Latinx adolescents’ awareness of interpersonal and structural racism across high school, and how this growth predicts sociopolitical action after high school. In Paper 3, authors explore the ways in which parents’ racial socialization (i.e., racial pride and preparation for bias messages) contribute to Black high school youths’ critical racial reflection, or their attributions of the Black-White academic achievement gap. Paper 2 focuses on relations between a non-race specific measure of CC and a measure of critical action that focuses on behaviors that address racism among a sample of racially/ethnically diverse youth, in which White youth are the majority. Together, these papers push CC literature to move adolescents’, both of color and White, racial experiences to the forefront of the literature.

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Chair

• Josefina Banales, University of Michigan

Discussant

• Elan Hope, North Carolina State University

Individual Presentations

• How Black and Latinx Adolescents’ Awareness of Racism Predicts Sociopolitical Action in Young Adulthood - Presenting Author: Scott Seider, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Daren Graves, Simmons College; Non-Presenting Author: Shelby Clark, Harvard University

• The Relation between Critical Consciousness and Anti-Racism Social Action among Diverse Adolescents - Presenting Author: Adriana Aldana, California State University Dominguez Hills; Non-Presenting Author: Josefina Banales, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Katie Richards-Schuster, University of Michigan

• Black Adolescents’ Critical Reflection Development: Parents’ Racial Socialization and Attributions about Race Achievement Gaps - Presenting Author: Josefina Banales, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Aixa D. Marchand, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Olivenne D Skinner, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Nkemka Anyiwo, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Rowley, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Beth Kurtz-Costes, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill