The Relationships between African American Adolescents’ Daily Racial Discrimination, Daily Racial Socialization, and Racial Identity with Academic and Psychological Outcomes.

Abstract

African American adolescents are likely to encounter the risk factor of racial discrimination in their daily contexts. They also possess cultural resources such as parental racial socialization messages that help adolescents develop positive and affirmed self-concepts and prepare for racial discrimination they may encounter (Hughes et al., 2006). Additionally, adolescents’ racial identity beliefs may promote positive adjustment and buffer negative impacts of discrimination (Spencer et al., 1997). Although scholars conceptualize racial discrimination and racial socialization as normative experiences in adolescents’ daily contexts, little research examines these experiences at the daily level. The current dissertation aims to fill this void in the literature by using a daily diary methodology to examine adolescents’ daily racial discrimination and racial socialization, along with their racial identity beliefs, as predictors of daily classroom engagement and psychological adjustment (positive and negative affect).

The dissertation’s sample included 164 self-identified African American adolescents (56% girls; Mage=15 years old, SD =1.60) from the Midwestern United States, a random subsample of participants in a larger, multi-method longitudinal study. The sample completed a large annual survey and short daily surveys over 21 days. Due to the repeated measures data, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to examine direct relationships of daily discrimination and socialization with daily academic and psychological outcomes and to test whether parental racial socialization and racial identity moderated relationships between discrimination and outcomes. Finally, the study examined whether daily racial socialization and adolescents’ racial identity beliefs functioned interactively to influence academic and psychological outcomes. Key findings highlight the promotive nature of parental racial socialization messages that emphasize adolescents’ worth as individuals and racial pride. For instance, when adolescents reported receiving self-worth messages from parents they reported more engagement, more positive affect, and less negative affect on the same day. Furthermore, the daily impact of racial discrimination varied when youth received racial socialization messages. For instance, among youth reporting a racial discrimination experience, those who received a racial pride message reported more school engagement than those with no pride message. Implications for adolescents, their parents, and researchers are discussed.