An Application of the Lifespan Model of Ethnic-Racial Identity Development: Exploring Identity’s A-B-Cs in Context

• In Event: 1-130 - A Lifespan Perspective of Ethnic-Racial Identity: Underlying Myths, Conceptual Expansions, and Opportunities for Application

Integrative Statement

This session will present the application of a newly developed lifespan model of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development (see Derlan et. al). ERI development has many implications for the overall development and well-being of children, adolescents, and adults. Broadly, individuals who form a strong and positive sense of their ERI – typically with deepening exploration in adolescence and consolidating during emerging adulthood – also have better academic outcomes, psychological adjustment (e.g., self-esteem), and overall well-being. These healthy psychological adaptation patterns are observed across many ethnic/racial groups in the U.S. and in Europe, and have led to recent intervention efforts targeting ERI as a resilience-building tool for minority youth (e.g., Umaña-Taylor, Douglass, Updegraff, & Marsiglia, 2017). Using an “A-B-C” approach to capturing affective, behavioral, and cognitive features of ethnic-racial identity development, we offer numerous suggestions for applying the lifespan model in education, clinical, and community settings to promote individuals’ health and well-being across the lifespan.

According to this applied model, the affective (e.g., attachment, pride), behavioral (e.g., socialization), and cognitive (e.g., labeling) features of ethnic-racial identity are dependent on and connected with one another. As in many prior A-B-C models (e.g. Ellis, 1955; Zhou, Jindal-Snape, Topping, & Todman, 2008), we acknowledge that most of these features are not separated from one another, but rather inform and influence one another. Nevertheless, by separating some of these features in an A-B-C approach we hope to enable practitioners, researchers, and interventionists to apply ERI theory to empirically-supported treatment approaches including those targeting anxiety and depression among individuals with marginalized ERIs (Cooley-Strickland, Griffin, Darney, Otte, & Ko, 2011). Breaking down the process of ERI into its’ A-B-C components may enable adults working with children in the early part of the lifespan to scaffold helpful affective, behavioral, and cognitive exercises and experiences that may facilitate a positive ERI exploration process and later consolidation in adolescence/adulthood. For practitioners and researchers working with adolescents, understanding how the A-B-Cs are influenced by puberty, social contexts, and adolescents’ growing awareness of societal systems (e.g., accelerators) may also facilitate adaptive responding to experiences with discrimination and challenges in education settings.

This model therefore presents a theoretical framework that can be applied to adapting empirically-supported treatments for a variety of psychological disorders, as well as in school-based counseling, social interventions, and educational programming across the lifespan, and informs research and interventions on family engagement approaches as well. Importantly, we consider these ethnic-racial identity A-B-Cs in their larger social and cultural contexts, emphasizing the reciprocal roles that established hierarchical social systems play in shaping individuals’ meaning-making activities (e.g., through building self and other-oriented narratives; engaging in online social media practices), thereby building and reinforcing various aspects of their ethnic-racial identities in context (see Figure).

Authors

• Amy K Marks, Suffolk University
  Presenting Author

• Stefanie Martinez-Fuentes, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nicole Tuitt, University of Colorado, Denver
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Pabon Gautier, St. Catherine University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Esther Calzada, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author