African American Adolescents’ Discrimination Experiences and Academic Achievement: Racial Socialization as a Cultural Compensatory and Protective Factor

Abstract

This study examines the interrelationships among racial discrimination experiences, parent race socialization practices, and academic achievement outcomes in a sample of 548 African American adolescents. Adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences were associated with a decrease in academic curiosity, persistence, and student self-reported grades. Racial pride, self-worth, egalitarian, and negative messages and racial socialization behaviors emerged as unique predictors of various academic outcomes, but did not appear to modulate the impact of racial discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. The present findings provide preliminary evidence that parents’ messages to their children about race may compensate for or counteract racial discrimination, as opposed to moderating its influence on academic achievement outcomes. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of motivation and other key developmental factors that may influence academic achievement outcomes in African American adolescents.

Ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, life satisfaction and school achievement of Roma ethnic minority youth

“…This is a critical direction in ethnic minority research because it centers on the importance of development of adaptive cultural mechanisms that can promote positive developmental outcomes in populations outside the US. In addition, consistent with the conceptual model ) and relevant work showing that ethnic socialization and ethnic identity are promotive factors for a variety of positive developmental outcomes among ethnic minority youth Murry et al, 2009;Neblett et al, 2006;Stevenson & Arrington, 2009), we hypothesized that (a) high levels of perceived ethnic socialization messages in the family would be associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and school achievement, and (b) ethnic identity would be positively and directly related to outcomes and would mediate the link between ethnic socialization, life satisfaction and school achievement.…”

School Racial Climate and the Academic Achievement of African American High School Students: The Mediating Role of School Engagement

“…Additionally, in one of the few studies to examine these relationships longitudinally, Wong and colleagues (2003) found that experiences with teacher and peer discrimination at school lessened achievement motivation and academic outcomes as well as the increased likelihood of problem behaviors in African American adolescents. Additional research has also demonstrated the deleterious impact on race discrimination experiences on academic-related outcomes (e.g., Burchinal, Roberts, Zeisel, & Rowley, 2008;Eccles et al, 2006;Neblett, Philip, Cogburn & Sellers, 2006;Powell & Arriola, 2003;Smalls, White, Chavous, & Sellers, 2007;Thomas, Caldwell, Faison & Jackson, 2009). Taken together, this research provides some evidence that discrimination, prejudice and other disadvantages in school settings is associated with negative educational outcomes among African American adolescents.…”

“…Also, there is a burgeoning body of research showing the deleterious impact of racial discrimination and racially-based unfair treatment on academic outcomes (e.g., Chavous et al, 2008;Fisher et al, 2000;Neblett et al, 2006;. Although by and large evidence for direct associations between youths' perceptions of racial climate and academic achievement were minimal for the current sample, it could be that African American youths' perceptions of racial fairness are associated with academic achievement through process variables.…”

“…This finding is surprising given the number of studies demonstrating the deleterious impact of discrimination by adults in school on African American youths' educational outcomes (Brown & Jones, 2004;Chavous et al, 2008;Dotterer et al, 2009;Neblett et al, 2006;Smalls et al, 2007;. It may be that perceiving discrimination from teachers motivates youth to succeed to disprove stereotypes .…”

Seeing the Other in the Self: The Impact of Barack Obama and Cultural Socialization on Perceptions of Self-Other Overlap among African Americans

“…Alternatively, students' own culturally dominant frames about race relations may influence their perceptions of the personal relevance of Obama's symbolic achievements. Research on cultural socialization (i.e., practices that promote knowledge about and pride in one's ethnic-racial heritage) suggests that African Americans who have been socialized with messages that emphasize racial pride (Hughes & Chen, 1997;Lesane-Brown, 2006) report more positive academic outcomes (Caughy, O'Campo, Randolph, & Nickerson, 2002;Neblett, Philip, Cogburn, & Sellers, 2006), higher self-esteem (Hughes, Rodriguez, Smith, et al, 2006), and greater use of approachcoping strategies in response to discrimination (Neblett, White, Ford, et al, 2008;Scott, 2003). This may occur because strong identification with one's group can provide a sense of social belonging and collective self-esteem that could broaden the perceived sources of racial affirmation and solidarity (Cohen & Garcia, 2005;Crocker, Luhtanen, Blaine, & Broadnax, 1994) and help to counter negative racial stereotypes (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999;Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003).…”