The Influence of Cultural and Racial Identification on the Psychosocial Adjustment of Inner‐City African American Children in School

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and combined influence of racial identity and Africentric values on African American children's psychosocial adjustment. Participants were 104 (53 males, 51 females) African American fourth-grade students attending an inner-city public school in a northeastern city. Child and teacher ratings were used to assess the relationship between racial identity, Africentric values, and several indices of child psychosocial adjustment, including child behavior control, school interest, and teacher perceptions of child strengths and problems in the classroom. Child self-esteem and the effects of gender and cohort were used as covariates in several analyses in the study. Overall, findings from the study supported the usefulness of combining racial identity and Africentric values into a single model of ethnic identification for African American children. Implications for risk prevention and enhancement of psychosocial functioning among African American children are discussed.

Racial and emotional factors predicting teachers' perceptions of classroom behavioral maladjustment for urban African American male youth

“…This finding proved consistent with results by Stevenson (1997) that showed that African American male youth who held racial socialization beliefs characterized by cultural legacy appreciation were better able to refrain from acting out with defiance and hostility in school than were those without this distinguishing characteristic. This finding is also in accordance with Thomas et al (2003), who showed a significant positive association between teachers' ratings of classroom rule compliance and students' endorsement of traditional cultural values that included knowledge of one's cultural heritage among a younger sample of urban African American students.…”

“…This finding suggests that the more the youth were told about their cultural heritage from parents and other relevant adults in their lives, and presumably internalized these messages, the less likely they were to react to situations and engage in behaviors in the classroom that would put them at risk for negative evaluations of their behavior. Hence, as previously suggested from earlier research (McHale et al, 2006;Stevenson et al, 2002;Thomas et al, 2003), having knowledge of African American history and culture may be an important protective factor for African American youth, providing those students with heritage knowledge more opportunities than others to benefit emotionally and have more successes in social situations at school.…”

“…The process also involves preparation for the deleterious effects of racism, cultural pride, mainstream coping, heritage knowledge, spiritual coping, and egalitarianism (McHale et al, 2006;Stevenson et al, 2002). Within urban school settings, racial socialization has been linked to the behavioral adjustment of African American students across multiple domains of functioning including prosocial coping and aggression management (Phinney & Chavira, 1995;Stevenson et al, 2002;Thomas, Townsend, & Belgrave, 2003). For instance, Thomas and colleagues (2003) found that indicators of racial socialization were predictive of teacher ratings of classroom behavior problems among African American students attending an urban, public elementary school.…”

Dissonance Between Home and School: Does it Exist and How Should it be Measured?

“…Thomas, Townsend and Belgrave (2003) identify numerous studies with findings indicating that students who experience racial socialization at home have a strong sense of self-identity and identification with their own ethnic group, and experience better psychosocial outcomes as well (Neblett et al, 2009). Racial socialization messages have also been found to lead to better attitudes toward school (Thomas et al, 2003).…”

“…Moreover, some researchers have examined the African American family context and gleaned that for some families, there exists an Africentric Worldview, "a set of beliefs values and assumptions that reflect basic African values found among persons of African descent including African Americans" (Belgrave, Townsend, Cherry, & Cunningham, 1997, p. 423). The Africentric values include: spirituality, harmony, movement expressiveness, verve, affect, communalism, expressive individualism, morality, and a social time perspective (Belgrave et al, 1997;Boykin, Tyler, Watkins-Lewis, & Kizzie, 2006;Thomas, Townsend, & Belgrave, 2003). These ideals are not often embraced in the school context, which could influence the difficulty that some minority students have navigating between home and school.…”