No abstract

This article describes the preliminary researchfindings on the Multi-Construct African American Identity Questionnaire, an instrument designed to measure several proposed components of racial/ethnic identity in African American adolescents. Data are presented on African American youth, ranging from 11 to 18 years of age, at two urban sites in the midwestern and southeastern United States. The psychometric properties of the instrument are examined, and information is included on the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity of the instrument. The findings are also examined in the context of current theoretical models of ethnic identity and its relationship to self-construct and personal identity. The implications of thefindingsfor the healthy development of African American youth are discussed.

Contemporary adolescent rites-of-passage interventions within the African American community are designed to positively influence the ethnic identity of African American youth through activities that provide historical and cultural information, teach intellectual and social skills, and promote values that are consistent with African American culture and community needs. Unfortunately, it is unclear how consistent these interventions are with current developmental research and theory. This article presents and describes the adolescent developmental pathways paradigm (ADPP), a rites-of-passage modelforAfrican American youth that provides a developmentalframework for ethnic identity development and integrates it into the current literature on adolescent rites of passage. Particular attention is given to the ecological context within which adolescent-focused interventions currently operate and have been shown to be effective. The implications of the ADPPfor adolescent development, community empowerment, social change, andfuture research are also discussed.

A mixed methods approach was used to explore dimensions of sociopolitical development of youth in El Salvador. Photovoice was used to engage 2 groups of adolescents from a rural village to document and discuss their community. Using previous theory and models of sociopolitical development as a guide, themes were identified to inform the development of a quantitative measure we call sociopolitical consciousness. New and preexisting items were combined to create a measure that reflected the themes from the qualitative data. The resulting measure was completed by 682 Salvadoran high school students across 3 different community contexts; 7 factors were subsequently identified representing both individual and collective dimensions of sociopolitical consciousness. The study demonstrates how a contextualized research process can facilitate a synergy between the emic and etic dimensions of sociopolitical development.

The Belief Systems Analysis Scale (BSAS) was administered to 171 African American college students attending Black studies classes at a predominantly White institution to provide further evidence on the psychometric properties of the instrument. The Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS) and the African Self-Consciousness Scale (ASCS) were used to provide construct validity and determine the relationship between an optimalAfrocentric belief system, racial identity attitudes, and African self-consciousness. Thefindings support the use of the total BSAS scale as ameasure of optimalAfrocentric values, although afactor analysis failed to confirm the structure on two of the five subscales as defined in the previous administration of the instrument on a sample of White college students. A direct relationship was found between the BSAS and the RIAS but not between the BSAS and the ASCS. It is suggested that Afrocentric values and African self-consciousness may represent separate domains of the overall African American identity structure.