Investigating the relation between ethnic–racial identity and classroom engagement among Cherokee adolescents: Cultural socialization as a moderator.

Abstract

Objective: Ethnic-racial identity is an important factor that can promote classroom engagement among ethnic-racial minority adolescents. However, the relationship between ethnic-racial identity and academic engagement remains severely understudied among Native American youth, who report some of the lowest levels of classroom engagement among ethnic-racial minority youth in the United States. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the relation between ethnic-racial identity and classroom engagement among Cherokee youth. Further, we sought to examine the role of parental cultural socialization as a factor that could moderate this association. Method: The analytic sample consisted of 211 Cherokee adolescents (M = 12.72, SD = .97; female = 52%). Participants were recruited from Grades 6 to 8 from one tribal (60% or n = 126) and two public (40% or n = 85) middle schools. Adolescents completed survey measures of ethnic-racial centrality, private regard, public regard, parental pride socialization, parental preparation for bias socialization, and classroom engagement. Results: Analyses showed that ethnic-racial centrality and regard were positively associated with classroom engagement. Furthermore, pride socialization enhanced the relation between private regard and engagement. Unexpectedly, preparation for bias mitigated the relation between public regard and engagement. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates an important association between ethnic-racial identity and classroom engagement for Cherokee youth. Furthermore, findings highlight the importance of parental cultural socialization as a potential malleable factor that can enhance or diminish the relation between ethnic-racial identity and classroom engagement for Cherokee adolescents. These results suggest that encouraging parental cultural socialization, particularly pride socialization, may be beneficial in promoting classroom engagement for Cherokee youth. Public Significance StatementCherokee adolescents who had a stronger and more positive ethnic-racial identity were more likely to report being engaged in their classroom activities. Moreover, positive associations between ethnicracial identity and classroom engagement were strengthened when adolescents reported receiving messages of cultural pride from parents and were weakened when parents prepared them for bias they may experience in their lives. These findings suggest that the kind of messages that parents relay when they talk with their children about their ethnicity/race can be beneficial for enhancing the positive relationship between ethnic-racial identity and classroom engagement, particularly through pride socialization messages.

The Role that Cultural Plays in Fostering Educational Sovereignty for American Indian Youths: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study

“…Academic literature notes that ethnic identity exploration counters the ill effects of oppression and colonization (Tsosie, 2003) suppressed as innate (Bourdieu, 1984;Deloria et al, 2018;DiAngelo, 2011;Kirmayer et al, 2014;Mohatt et al, 2014). Scholars claimed that ERI development might nurture positive attitudes towards school (Bakth et al, 2022) and increased sense of self and well-being for AI youths (Byrd & Legette, 2022;Hoffman et al, 2021).…”

Perspectives of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists on the Influence of School Connectedness on American Indian Youths

“…The lack of legitimacy about Indigenous Knowledge (IK) (Brayboy & Maughan, 2009;Castagno et al, 2022) contributes to AIs experiencing cultural socialization based on a Euro-Western worldview . Cultural socialization is how parents and children convey messages about the importance of their ethnicity and race (Bakth et al, 2022;Byrd & Legette, 2022;Syed et al, 2018).…”

“…Academic literature notes that Identity formation is the main task of adolescence (Erikson, 1968) and for youths of color is made more arduous by the added task of blending ethnic and racial identity into one's sense of self (Umaña- Taylor et al, 2014). To describe this process, positive attitudes towards school (Bakth et al, 2022). Clark (2022) learned in a study with AI youths that ERI exploration contributes significantly to increasing cultural connectedness.…”

Breathing the Air of Their Ancestors: The Influence of Ethnic-Racial Identity on School Connectedness for Native American Youths

“…Ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution is recognized as a fundamental and vital element of normal youth development (Rivas-Drake et al, 2017;Umaña-Taylor, Quintana, Lee et al, 2014). Scholarly literature suggests that ethnic-racial identity growth might contribute to an optimistic outlook toward school (Bakth et al, 2022), nurture an increased view of oneself, and improve happiness for Native children (Byrd & Legette, 2022;Hoffman et al, 2021).…”