Transcript Document

Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity
as Developmental Contexts
for African-American
Adolescents
Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Celina M. Chatman, Carol Wong, &
Oksana Malanchuk
University of Michigan
Paper presented at the ISSBD conference
Ghent, Belgium
July 2004
Broad Educational Issue

African-American youth continue to do less
well academically in school than EuropeanAmerican youth
– High school grades
– High school completion rates
– Standardized test scores
– College attendance rates
Two Most Popular Psychological
Explanations

Oppositional Identity – Fordham & Ogbu

Stereotype Threat – Steele & Aronson

The first explanation suggests that
African-American students (and other
stigmatized ethnic minority groups) develop
oppositional ethnic identities in response to
their belief in a glass ceiling (Fordham, 1988;
Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Ogbu, 1987).
– That is, many African Americans perceive doing
well in school as being rewarded by future job
status attainment only among White students
– As a consequence, in an attempt to sustain a
positive African-American identity, these youth
disengage from school-achievement related attitudes
and behaviors to avoid being accused of “acting
white.”
The second explanation - Stereotype Threat (Claude Steele) argues that:
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African American youth believe that others think
they are not as smart as European-American youth
This belief raises their anxiety
To cope with these anxieties, African-American
youth will detach their self-esteem from academic
achievement
Leading to a lowering of the personal importance
placed on academic achievement
Although there is no explicit reference to racial
identity, one might suggest that the higher one’s
racial identity the more likely one would be affected
by stereotype threat
Both
of these theories call
attention to the role of social
identities in the context of
marginalization, stigmatization,
discrimination, and cultural
stereotypes
• The evidence linking African-American
identity to achievement is mixed
• Some studies have indicated that ethnic
identity and achievement are unrelated,
others have indicated a positive relation
and others have found the predicted
negative relation (e.g., Arroyo & Zigler,
1995; Fordham, 1988; Fordham & Ogbu,
1986; Hemmings, 1996; O'Connor, 1998;
Taylor et al., 1994).
• Most have found either no relation or a
positive relation
• Furthermore, the limited research on the
content of African American adolescents'
notions of “acting Black” or “acting
White” indicates that these beliefs are
seldom related to achievement attitudes,
behaviors, and performance (Carter,
1999).
• Finally, neither of these perspectives
deals directly with the issue of daily
experiences of racial discrimination and
the role that ethnic identities might play
in buffering the effects of racial
discrimination on development and
school achievement (Essed; Feagin).
Goals of my talk

Look at the impact of perceived racial
discrimination and anticipated racial
discrimination on adolescent development
 Look at the role ethnic identity plays in
helping African-American youth cope with
discriminatory experiences in school
 Present findings from our longitudinal study
of African-American youth living near
Washington DC
Contributors to the Maryland
Adolescent Development in Context
Study (MADICS)

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Jacquelynne Eccles, PI
Arnold Sameroff, PI
W. Todd Bartko
 Elaine Belansky
 Diane Early
 Kari Fraser
 Leslie Gutman
 Yael Harlap
 Katie Jodl
 Ariel Kalil
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Linda Kuhn
Alice Michael
Melanie Overby
Stephen Peck
Katherine Rosenblum
Robert Roeser
Sherri Steele
Erika Taylor
Cynthia Winston
Carol Wong
Sample
Respondent characteristics:
– African-American
– N=625
– Average age = 11 at
Wave 1
– Seventh grade at W 1
– 53 % male
– Data being presented
today is from waves 1,
3, and 4; Grades 7, 89, 11-12
Family background:
– Median Family Income (1993):
$50-55,000
– Highest Education: 38%
College Degree
– Highest Occupation:


44% Skilled
30% Professional
Longitudinal Mixed Methods

Face-to-face, in home interviews with youth and
their parents which included both close-ended and
quite open-ended questions
 Self-administered questionnaires with youth and
their parents
 Open-ended phone interviews with youth and their
parents
 Repeated intensive interviews with a subset of the
youth
Data Collection

Fall of Grade 7, 1991
 Summer after Grade 8, 1993
 Winter and Spring terms of 11th Grade,
1996
 Winter and Spring of 1998
 All of 2000
Today

Discuss data from only the first two waves.
Study 1 : The association of
ethnicity, ethnic identity and
perceived racial
discrimination with adolescent
school achievement and
motivation
Main Collaborators
Carol Wong – University of Delaware
 Cythnia Winston – Howard University
 Elaine Belansky – University of Colorado

Grade Point Averages
5
4
3
5
2
4
1
3
0
2
Working Lower
Class Middle
Middle
Class
Upper
Middle
1
0
Black
Males
Black
Females
White
Males
White
Females
Is Getting Good Grades
Part of Acting Black?
Yes
No
90
Percent
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Black Males
Black Females
White Males
White Females
Academic Importance Beliefs By Race
Controlling for SES
Whites
Blacks
1=Not at all, 7=Very
6
5.5
5
4.5
4
Academic Importance 7th Grade
Academic Importance 8th Grade
Instrumental Value of Education by Race
Controlling for SES
Whites
Blacks
4.2
1=Important,
5=Not important
4
3.8
3.6
3.4
3.2
3
Education Utility 7th Grade
Education Utility 8th Grade
Conclusion

No evidence that African-American youth
place less importance on education that
European-American youth
Now lets turn to the role of
discrimination
Is Getting Ahead in Life
Difficult Because of Your Race?
Yes
No
100
Percent
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Black Males
Black Females
White Males
White Females
Percent of Adolescents Who Perceive a ‘Glass Ceiling”
to Attaining Their Desired Education and Occupation
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Black
Males
Black
Females
White
Males
White
Females
Adolescents’ Race-Related Experiences in School
Eighth Grade
Whites
Blacks
Percent One Time or More
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Call on You
Less
Grade You
Harder
Harsher Think You Are Discourage
Discipline Less Smart From Taking
Classes
Effects of Different Types of Racial Discrimination
on African American Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and Achievement
Youth Perception
of Glass Ceiling
.10*
-.31***
Youth Perception
of Discrimination
by Peers
Youth
Value of
School
R2 = .31
Academic
Achievement
.11*
Youth Perception
of Discrimination
by Teachers
.09**
-.25***
-.04
R2 = .36
-.25***
Youth
Self-Concept
of Ability
R2 = .12
.22***
Thus, there is strong support for
the undermining impact of daily
experiences of discrimination in
school on school achievement
as well as on other indicators of
healthy adolescent
development.
There is no support in this
sample for the idea that
believing in a glass ceiling on
average undermines school
performance and motivation.
We still need to explore whether
this is true for some sub-groups.
Study 2:
What role does African-American
Identity play in helping AfricanAmerican youth cope with daily
experiences of discrimination?
Main Collaborator

Carol Wong, University of Delaware
Ethnic Identity as Buffer against Experiences of
Racial Discrimination: Conclusions from Studies 1
and 2

Daily experiences of racial discrimination at
school, although not frequent, undermine
positive development in several domains

Ethnic Identity (measured as strong positive
cultural connections due to race) reduces
this negative impact for African-American
youth in several domains
Thank You!
[email protected]
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