Does Coping and Racial Identity Promote Self-Regulated Learning? Using an Equity-Elaborated Social-Emotional Learning Lens

• In Event: Does Racism Color Black Youths' Social-Emotional Learning? The Roles of Teachers, Identity, and Measurement

Abstract

Black youth face a myriad of race-related stressors in school due to interpersonal and institutional racism (Hope, Skoog & Jagers, 2015). Although such experiences have serious consequences for numerous academic-related outcomes (e.g., Chavous Rivas-Drake, Smalls, Griffin & Cogburn, 2008), considerable variability exists among Black youths’ responses such that those that are exposed to racism-related stress are not necessarily affected in the same way. Social and emotional learning (SEL) has the potential to mitigate the deleterious impact of negative school experiences for minoritized youth (Jagers, Rivas-Drake & Borowski, 2018). Indeed, there is mounting evidence that SEL positively impacts youths’ educational outcomes (Jones & Kahn, 2017). However, much of the SEL literature does not adequately reflect the cultural assets, such as racial identity, known to promote the well-being of Black youth in the face of racial-related stress at school. In addition, the relationship between coping skills and academic outcomes among Black youth requires greater empirical attention as much of this literature explores relationships between coping and maladaptive behaviors (Perry, Fisher, Caemmerer, Keith & Poklar, 2018). Furthermore, the evidence indicating the significance of self-regulated learning for youths’ academic success has been criticized for its lack of attention to the cultural context (Karoly, Boekaerts & Maes, 2005). Guided by the cultural analysis of SEL competencies proposed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL; Jagers et al., 2018), the current study addresses these gaps in the literature by exploring associations among Black youths’ coping skills (self-management), racial identity (self-awareness), and self-regulated learning.

Method: The sample included 151 African American students (52% female), 14 to 19 years old (M = 16.42, SD = 1.56), from two public high schools in the southeastern region of the United States.. Both high schools were Title 1 (i.e., predominantly low-income students), had similar enrollment, and were demographically matched on student and teacher race/ethnicity, student body socioeconomic status, teaching styles/curriculum, and student proficiency and performance outcomes. Participant recruitment and survey administration occurred at school. Students reported on their coping skills (Carver, 1997), racial identity (Sellers, Rowley, Chavous, Shelton, & Smith, 1997), and self-regulated learning strategies (Wang, Willett & Eccles, 2011). Age, gender, eligibility for the free/reduced school lunch program (a proxy for socioeconomic status) and grade-point average were retrieved from school records and used as control variables.

Results and Implications: Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were conducted followed by hierarchical regression analyses to examine how coping skills and racial identity were related to self-regulated learning. Findings suggested that racial identity (centrality) moderated the relation between coping (active, emotional support, instrumental support) and self-regulated learning. Specifically, for youth with high race centrality, the associations between active coping and self-regulated learning (β =-.12, SE=.07, p<.01) and support and self-regulated learning (β =-.16, SE=.07, p<.05), was stronger. For youth with low race centrality and whose values were at the mean, there were no significant relationships between active coping and self-regulated learning nor support and self-regulated learning. Implications for the inclusion of cultural assets when considering SEL among Black adolescents are discussed.

Authors

• Charity Brown Griffin, Winston-Salem State University

• DeLeon Gray, Black and Belonging

• Elan Hope, North Carolina State University

• Isha W. Metzger, University of Georgia

• Dawn X Henderson, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill