Identity Development across Developmental Stages and Contexts: Considering Processes and Implications among Ethnic-Racial Minority Youth

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Identity development has roots in middle childhood, grows sharply in importance during adolescence, and continues through adulthood as individuals navigate shifts in context and interpersonal relationships (Erikson, 1968). Research suggests that in the U.S., a country with a complex sociopolitical history vis-a-vis race and ethnicity, it is especially important for ethnic-racial minority youth to explore and make meaning of their ethnic-racial identity as a part of their broader identity development (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). As researchers seek to further understand how identity processes operate and inform the experiences of ethnic-racial minority youth, it is imperative that we examine these processes across distinct developmental stages and contexts.

This symposium brings together qualitative and quantitative research examining the identity processes of ethnic-racial minority youth across developmental contexts, and the implications of these processes for their adjustment. Study 1 qualitatively examines Black children’s burgeoning racial identity development and emerging understandings of societal inequality. Study 2 utilizes path analysis to examine how diverse adolescents’ racial identity centrality informs the process through which they internalize racialized experiences with discipline and discrimination in school. Study 3 qualitatively examines how Latinx immigrant-origin adolescents and emerging adults’ experiences of exclusion and belonging across various social contexts informs their identity formation. Study 4 utilizes latent profile analysis to examine how constellations of ethnic-racial identity process and content jointly inform Black and Latinx adolescents’ academic and psychological adjustment. Discussion will center on implications of the identity processes examined for youth’s positive development, sense of belonging, and broader well-being.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chairs

• Kristia Wantchekon, Harvard University

• Juliana Karras, San Francisco State University

Individual Presentations

• The Intersection of Inequality and Civic Development – How Children from Diverse Black Families Resist Injustice - Presenting Author: Jasmine Johnson, Fordham University; Non-Presenting Author: Juliana Karras, San Francisco State University

• Discriminatory Discipline and School Climate: The Moderating Role of Racial Identity - Presenting Author: Whitney Polk, University of Delaware; Non-Presenting Author: Nancy E Hill, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Belle Liang, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: John Perella, Revere High School

• Belonging and Identity across Contexts among Latinx Immigrant-Origin Youth - Presenting Author: Guadalupe Lopez Hernandez, Loyola University Chicago

• Relating Profiles of Ethnic-Racial Identity to Black and Latinx Adolescents’ Academic and Psychological Adjustment - Presenting Author: Kristia Wantchekon, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Harvard University