Links Between Youth Contexts and Learning Opportunities: Structural Systems, Culture, and Everyday Experiences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Developmental science has long been invested in understanding the role of social contexts in shaping developmental processes relevant for academic success. However, there remains limited evidence regarding how youths’ experiences within proximal contexts (e.g., families, schools, neighborhoods) are shaped by broader structural systems of privilege and oppression. Utilizing a diverse mix of methodological approaches, the four papers in this symposium contribute to addressing this gap, focusing specifically on adolescence, a sensitive period of development characterized by heightened susceptibility to environmental influences, attention to the self in relation to social categories, and identity formation.

The first paper qualitatively explores the educational and career aspirations of Latinx youth living in under-resourced Chicago neighborhoods and examines how contextual factors influence young adults’ aspirations. The second paper uses Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to examine the daily impact of discrimination on school behaviors including conscientiousness and problem behaviors. Using Latent Profile Analysis, the third paper explores how disparities in neighborhood recreational opportunities are linked with youths’ everyday experiences, particularly their use of summertime. Finally, the fourth paper leverages longitudinal individual-level administrative records matched to census data to examine how living in a gentrifying neighborhood may impact educational outcomes across racial-ethnic and socioeconomic groups and according to neighborhood-level racial identity.

Together, these papers bring novel perspectives to understanding development in context by emphasizing the role of broader structural systems and everyday lived experiences in shaping youth development. Findings have implications for policies and interventions that aim to reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in educational opportunity.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chairs

• Jane Leer, Boston College

• Amanda L. Roy, University of Illinois at Chicago

Individual Presentations

• “Why do I want to do these plans? Well... ": Understanding the factors that shape the educational and career aspirations of Latinx Youth from Chicago - Presenting Author: Juan Ramón Arvizu-Sevilla, University of Illinois at Chicago; Amanda L. Roy, University of Illinois at Chicago

• The impact of everyday discrimination on adolescents’ school related behaviors - Presenting Author: Anika Khan, University of Pennsylvania; Sara R Jaffee, University of Pennsylvania

• Links Between the Neighborhood Recreational Context and Youths’ Use of Summertime - Presenting Author: Bryn Spielvogel, University of Utah

• Neighborhood Change and Youth Educational Pathways: Where, When, Why, and For Whom Might Gentrification Matter? - Presenting Author: Jane Leer, Boston College