Discriminatory Discipline and School Climate: The Moderating Role of Racial Identity

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

Abstract

Racially discriminatory discipline can disrupt students’ postsecondary trajectories, due to increased high school dropout rates and juvenile justice involvement. Additionally, racialized school discipline informs inequitable gaps in discipline and poorer perceptions of school climate, particularly among Black students (Huang & Anyon, 2020). Negative perceptions of school climate are related to more proximate outcomes like diminished academic achievement, school engagement, and connection to school (Liang et al., 2010; Byrd & Chavous, 2012; Green et al., 1988). Generally, students of color report more negative perceptions of school climate than White students and attribute differential school treatment to racism and discrimination (Fisher et al., 2000). As such, these students must navigate school contexts they perceive to be unsupportive, discriminatory, and disparately regulatory of their behaviors (Anyon et al., 2016; Konold et al., 2017). Research suggests a strong positive racial identity can support youth of color exposed to school-based adversity; however, these potential buffering effects differ depending on the dimension of racial identity assessed (Rivas-Drake et al., 2014; Cheon & Yip, 2019). The current study examined the relations between office disciplinary referrals (ODRs), discrimination, indicators of school climate, and racial centrality (i.e., the extent to which youth viewed their racial identity as integral to their self-concept; Sellers et al., 1998). We hypothesized that students who receive ODRs would report poorer perceptions of their school climate, but that this relationship might be mediated by perceived discrimination and moderated by students’ racial centrality.

The sample included 1,013 high school students (53% girls; 63% White, 15% Black, 10% Asian, 9% Latinx, and 3% Multiracial). Discrimination was assessed using the Everyday Discrimination scale (5-item; α=.82; Williams, et al., 1997) and racial centrality was assessed using the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity subscale (8-item; α=.78 ; Sellers et al., 1998). School climate indicators included: School Climate Measure: Order and Discipline Subscale (6-item; α=.87; Zullig et al., 2010), School Interracial Climate Association Subscale (7-item; α=.91; Green et al., 1988), and the Relational Health Indices for Youth-School Belongingness subscale (6-item; α=.91; Liang et al., 2010). ODRs were estimated using school administrative data and were dichotomized (0= no infractions; 1= 1 infraction that year).

Path analysis was conducted to assess the mediating and moderating effects of discrimination and racial identity on ODRs and school climate. Preliminary analyses indicated Black students were 1.7x more likely to be disciplined, reported significantly higher levels of discrimination and race centrality, and reported poorer perceptions of school climate compared with their White, Latinx, and Asian peers. Results suggested that for students with ODRs, discrimination mediated the relationship between discipline and all four indicators of school climate, and that racial centrality moderated the relationship between discrimination and two indicators of school climate (Figure 1). Specifically, the negative relations between discrimination and school belonging as well as discrimination and interracial climate association were attenuated by higher levels of racial centrality. Discussion will address the role of discrimination, racial identity, and ODRs in informing students’ school climate perceptions as well as potential differences across racial/ethnic background and ODR frequency.

Authors

• Whitney Polk, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author

• Nancy E Hill, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Belle Liang, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author

• John Perella, Revere High School
  Non-Presenting Author