The current paper presents a lifespan model of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) from infancy into adulthood. We conceptualize that ethnic-racial priming during infancy prompts nascent awareness of ethnicity/race that becomes differentiated across childhood and through adulthood. We propose that the components of ERI that have been tested to date fall within five dimensions across the lifespan: ethnic-racial awareness, affiliation, attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge. Further, ERI evolves in a bidirectional process informed by an interplay of influencers (i.e., contextual, individual, and developmental factors, as well as meaning-making and identity-relevant experiences). It is our goal that the lifespan model of ERI will provide important future direction to theory, research, and interventions. Ethnic-racial identity (ERI) encompasses the process and content that defines an individual's sense of self related to ethnic heritage and racial background. It includes labels individuals use to define themselves according to ethnicity/race; awareness, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge they have about their ethnic-racial background; enactment of their identity; and processes by which each of these dimensions evolve (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). ERI is recognized as an important developmental competency (Williams et al., 2012) that can promote positive adjustment in the face of risk or adversity (Neblett et al., 2012). Scholars emphasize that ERI development is dynamic and evolves throughout the lifespan (Syed et al., 2007). However, most conceptual models of ERI have focused independently on distinct developmental periods, such as childhood (e.g., Bernal et al., 1990) or adolescence (see Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014 for review), without an explicit lifespan perspective. This relatively piecemeal approach makes it difficult to chart continuity across developmental periods when identity components are defined specific to a single developmental period, with little effort tracing either the origin or maturation of components beyond a single developmental period. The resulting scholarship gives the impression of disjointed development of ethnic-racial identity. To piece together disparate scholarship in the field's conceptual understanding of ERI, [Adriana Umaña-Taylor and Esther Calzada] assembled a work group funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of our work group was to develop an integrated model of ERI development that would describe when components of ERI first emerge, how they unfold from one developmental period to another, which components have 2 WILLIAMS ET AL.

Ethnic-racial discrimination experiences, ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development, and attitudes toward other ethnic-racial group contact all make important contributions to individuals' health and well-being. Absent from the literature is systematic examination of whether these constructs may be measured equivalently for adolescents from different ethnic-racial groups living in different contexts. In 2 large ethno-racially diverse samples of high school students in the Southwestern (N ϭ 2,136) and Midwestern (N ϭ 1,055) United States, the current study tested invariance of 4 widely used measures, including

As the U.S. Latino youth population grows, understanding how family and individual resources may promote Latino adolescents' academic outcomes is important. The current investigation examined whether family ethnic socialization predicted adolescents' use of proactive strategies for coping with ethnic-racial discrimination and examined a potential pathway through which these contextual and individual resources may relate to educational outcomes. Drawing on data from a sample of Latino adolescents (n = 321; Mage = 15.31 years, SD = .76; 49.5% female), results of a cross-sectional structural equation model showed a double mediation of the relation between family ethnic socialization and GPA by proactive coping strategies and self-efficacy. Alternate models, limitations of the current investigation, and implications for future research are discussed.Latinos comprise almost a quarter of the current U.S. youth population, with projections indicating that Latinos will account for 34 percent of the youth population by 2060 (Colby & Ortman, 2015). As Latino students constitute a significant and increasingly more significant share of the nation's future, ensuring that they are academically well-prepared for the workforce is important for the U.S. to thrive on a global level. Although the dropout rate has decreased over the past two decades, Latino students in the U.S. drop out of school at a rate two times higher than their White counterparts (Gramlich, 2017). These educational disparities could be related to Latino youths' experiences with ethnic-racial discrimination (e.g., prejudiced comments, negative stereotypes, and negative actions toward individuals based on their ethnic group membership; Brondolo, Ver Halen, Pencille, Beatty, & Contrada, 2009). Latino adolescents report a high prevalence of experiences with ethnic-racial discrimination (Flores, Tschann, Dimas, Pasch, & de Groat, 2010), and these experiences are negatively related to their academic achievement (e.g., Huynh & Fuligni, 2010;McWhirter, Garcia, & Bines, 2017).Indeed, consistent with theoretical notions advanced in the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST; Spencer, Dupree, & Hartmann, 1997), repeat exposure to discriminatory experiences during adolescence may form patterns of responses that shape developmental trajectories and identities via self-system processes. However, adolescents' proactive coping strategies (i.e., strategies through which they actively engage in efforts to resolve stressors) may mitigate the effects of discrimination (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009) and these coping responses may in turn be incorporated into adolescents' emerging identities (Spencer et al., 1997). In fact, research shows that proactive coping strategies are positively related to adolescents' self-esteem, ethnic-racial identity, and positive affect (Dumont & Provost, 1999; Vera et al., 2012). It is especially important to understand the mechanisms underlying adolescents' approaches for coping proactively with discrimination due to the negative...

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Few studies have examined coping strategies specific to ethnic-racial discrimination among Latino youth. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Discrimination Coping Strategies Scale (DCSS) including its factor structure, validity, and longitudinal measurement invariance. Data came from four waves of a longitudinal study of 323 Latino adolescents (Wave 1 Mage = 15.31 years, SD = .76; 49.5% female). Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis suggested a factor structure that included a three-item latent factor and two manifest variables. Analyses suggested that the factor structure for the latent construct was invariant across four waves of repeated measures. Support for construct validity emerged with tests of convergent, divergent, and predictive validity. Taken together, findings provide support for the validity of the proactive coping subscale of the DCSS as a measure of Latino adolescents’ proactive coping with ethnic-racial discrimination.