Poster #174 - Ebb and Flow of Ethnic Identity: Developmental Trajectories of Public and Private Racial/Ethnic Regard

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Children can be perceptive of how others view their racial/ethnic group, but these views and children’s own views of their group might differ across age and racial/ethnic group. Public regard, a dimension of racial/ethnic identity, is the extent to which one believes others hold positive or negative views of their group, whereas private regard is one’s personal appraisal of their group (Ashmore, Deaux, & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2004). Examinations of these dimensions have primarily been limited to adolescents or adults (e.g., Crocker et al., 1994; Hughes, Way, & Rivas-Drake, 2001). Few studies have investigated how these components of racial/ethnic identity unfold across early and middle childhood.
The current study examined the development of public and private racial/ethnic regard among 144 European American, African American, and Latinx children ages 5 to 12 (50.7% female; Mage = 7.98 years, SDage = 1.80). To assess public regard, we created a novel measure where children predicted how a third-party individual would evaluate a same-race/ethnicity child or adult in several everyday situations (e.g., whether a bystander would think a same-ethnicity child took a cookie from the cookie jar without asking; whether the bystander would be happy or afraid to see a same-ethnicity adult). To assess private regard, we asked children direct questions (e.g., “Are you happy to be [ethnicity]?”; “Is being [ethnicity] an important part of you?”) based on previously established measures.
Two dimensions of public regard were revealed - a general public regard subscale (e.g, would someone want a same-ethnicity child to move in next door) and a trustworthy public regard subscale (e.g., would a same-ethnicity adult be accused of shoplifting). Although public racial/ethnic regard was generally positive, European American children perceived the most positive regard. Overall, private racial/ethnic regard was also positive, but more positive for African American and Latinx children than for European American children. Additionally, general public racial/ethnic regard remained positive for African American and Latinx children as they aged, but European American children’s general public regard increased until age 8 then declined. Further, older children felt that others viewed their group as being less trustworthy. Examining the relationship between the two dimensions of racial/ethnic identity revealed that private and public regard were positively correlated among younger children, but not among older children.
These results provide insight into the developmental trajectories of public and private regard among different groups. Perceptions of racial/ethnic identity may change as children’s social cognitive skills develop, and they are better able to engage in social comparison. Previously, research has observed public regard become more negative across middle school for African American and Latinx adolescents (Hughes et al., 2011). In contrast, private regard has been observed to remain high (Ho & Graham, 2008; Seaton, Yip, & Sellers, 2009). Consistent with this pattern, our work suggests that negatively stereotyped group members may learn to dissociate the public’s view of one’s racial/ethnic group from one’s personal view at relatively young ages.

Authors

• Aubrey Pellicano, Humboldt State University
  Presenting Author

• Brenda Celina Gutierrez, University of California at Santa Cruz
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tania Rodriguez, California State University, Long Beach
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ramon Flores, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sara Ortiz-Cubias, California State University, Long Beach
  Non-Presenting Author

• May Ling Halim, California State University Long Beach
  Non-Presenting Author