No abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how parents' documentation status informs their ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices and the subsequent implications for Latinx youths' psychological adjustment. The mixed-methods approach combined convergent and exploratory sequential designs to explore the breadth and depth of Latinx parents' messages to their children regarding race and ethnicity. Qualitative data were used to generate hypotheses that were tested quantitatively. Analysis of interviews revealed parents' concerns with obeying the law, avoiding interaction with others, teaching children how to deal with discrimination, the importance of transmitting their culture, and concerns for their children's ever-present fear and stress. Path analysis showed that undocumented parents utilized more cultural socialization and promotion of mistrust messages than their documented counterparts. More promotion of mistrust, in turn, was associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms. Given the current sociopolitical climate and ethnic-racial tensions in the United States, it is imperative to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the nuanced ERS practices Latinx families employ to both cope with and respond to this situation.

The current study expands on ethnic–racial socialization (ERS) among Latinx families to include sociopolitical discussions as a way to better understand how these practices relate to adolescents’ developmental outcomes, including their ethnic–racial identity (ERI) and their sociopolitical development. More specifically, we examined whether there were direct links between parental ERS practices and sociopolitical discussions at home and adolescents’ emergent participatory citizenship via their ERI processes (i.e., exploration and resolution). These questions were examined using path analyses with 267 self‐identified Latinx early adolescents (Mage = 11.88, SD = 1.22; girls = 54.3%). Results revealed direct associations between sociopolitical discussions and cultural socialization at home with civic accountability. Thus, youth whose parents had engaged in more discussions with them about current political issues and who taught them about their ethnic heritage and history endorsed a greater sense of collective responsibility for helping community members in need. Additionally, preparation for bias and sociopolitical discussions at home were each uniquely associated with more ERI exploration, and each was also indirectly associated with expectations for future community involvement via youths’ ERI exploration. Our findings come at a critical juncture in time, providing insight into ways we can support the positive ERI development and build the civic capacity of Latinx adolescents.

How youth come to understand their social identities and their relation to others’ identities can have important implications for the future of our society. In this article, we focus on how ethnic-racial identities (ERI) can serve to promote (or hinder) collective well-being. We first describe the nature of change in ethnic-racial identities over the course of childhood and adolescence. We then delineate three pathways by which youths’ ERI can be a mechanism for productive intergroup relations and thereby collective well-being as a: (a) basis for understanding differences and finding commonalities across groups; (b) promotive and protective resource for marginalized youth; and (c) springboard for recognizing and disrupting marginalization. This article concludes with how youths’ ERI can be nurtured into a source of resilience and resistance in the face of racism and xenophobia. Moreover, we urge researchers to consider the role ERI plays in guiding youth to challenge and resist marginalization.

This study sheds light on the interrelations of universal, school-based social-emotional learning strategies and ethnic-racial identity over time. We assessed exposure to social-emotional learning practices and ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution among 367 middle school students (70% African American, 30% Latinx; 51% girls) across 3 years. The results of a latent growth model with social-emotional learning practices as a time-varying covariate suggest that practices that afford youth opportunities for autonomy, prosocial behavioral routines, and collaboration in the context of homerooms (advisories) and classrooms were consistently associated with greater ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution across the middle school years. Theoretical and practical implications for the potential of school-based social-emotional learning to support the development of cultural assets such as ethnic-racial identity are discussed.