Social Contexts of Adolescents’ Ethnic-Racial Identity Development: Advancing Multiple Methodological Approaches

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Ethnic-racial identity formation is a developmental task that gains prominence during adolescence as youth develop in cognitive awareness and navigate the growing complexity of social settings in their daily lives. This symposium brings several papers together to advance the consideration of multiple ways that adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity development is embedded within social contexts. Each study comprises an ethno-racially diverse sample of U.S. adolescents, and each study adopts a different methodological approach to examine how multiple social context factors inform adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity. Using longitudinal growth modeling, the first paper examines variability in adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity (e.g., centrality, public regard) and academic adjustment over time by friendship group characteristics (e.g., ethnic-racial diversity, emotional support, conflict). Utilizing person-centered latent profile analysis, the second paper identifies profiles of ethnic-racial socialization and discrimination experiences occurring across multiple social contexts (e.g., family, school, neighborhood, the Internet) and tests relations between adolescents’ profile membership and their ethnic-racial identity (e.g., exploration, commitment, centrality, private regard, public regard). Adopting a consensual qualitative research approach in a focus group study, the third paper uncovers ways in which adolescents learn about their ethnic-racial identity at the intersections of multiple social contexts, including from family, peers, school, neighborhood/community-based settings, the media, and the broader macro-level sociohistorical context. Together, these studies highlight the utility of multiple methodological approaches to rigorously address the complexity of social context influences on adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity. An expert discussant will situate the contributions of these studies in advancing conceptualization and methods of ethnic-racial identity research in context.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chair

• Michael R Sladek, University of Oklahoma

Discussant

• Leoandra Onnie Rogers, Northwestern University

Individual Presentations

• Ethnic-Racial Identity and Academic Adjustment among Adolescents: The Role of Friendship Characteristics - Presenting Author: Michael Alan Medina, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Deborah Rivas-Drake, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Harvard University

• Ethnic-Racial Identity and Ethnic-Racial Socialization from Family, School, Neighborhood, and the Internet - Presenting Author: Christy Michelle Byrd, North Carolina State University; Non-Presenting Author: Lydia Harim Ahn, Arizona State University

• “So, Like, It’s All a Mix of One”: Intersecting Contexts of Adolescents’ Ethnic-Racial Socialization - Presenting Author: Michael R Sladek, University of Oklahoma; Non-Presenting Author: Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer L. Hardesty, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Gladys María Aguilar, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: David Bates, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Elisa Gomez, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Connie Hur, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Shandra M. Jones, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Hua Luo, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Megan Satterthwaite-Freiman, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Michael A Vázquez, Harvard University