School-Based Contributors to Adolescents' Ethnic-Racial Identity Public Regard

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Bibliographic Details
Title: School-Based Contributors to Adolescents' Ethnic-Racial Identity Public Regard
Language: English
Authors: Kristia A. Wantchekon (ORCID 0000-0002-9967-9791), Isabelle E. González, Deborah Rivas-Drake, Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor
Source: Developmental Psychology. 2026 62(6):1176-1188.
Availability: American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 13
Publication Date: 2026
Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
Contract Number: 1625196
1625277
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Secondary Education
Descriptors: Adolescents, Racial Identification, Ethnicity, Educational Discrimination, Social Discrimination, Social Status, Sense of Belonging, African American Students, Hispanic American Students, Asian American Students, High School Students, Individual Development
DOI: 10.1037/dev0002157
ISSN: 0012-1649
1939-0599
Abstract: Adolescents' ethnic-racial identity, including their beliefs about their ethnic-racial group, are shaped by their social contexts. One important ethnic-racial identity belief is public regard, which reflects adolescents' perceptions of their ethnic-racial group's social standing; however, limited research explores how school-based forces inform ethnoracially minoritized adolescents' public regard. Accordingly, the present study examined the interrelations among school discrimination, school belonging, and public regard over the course of a school year among Black, Asian American, and Latine adolescents (n = 2,060; M[subscript age] = 15.91, 46% boys, 54% girls or another gender). Findings suggested that across the three ethnic-racial groups, higher beginning-of-year school belonging was associated with higher public regard over the course of the school year, whereas higher beginning-of-year school discrimination was associated with lower public regard over the course of the school year. Drawing on an ecological systems framing, we also explored whether these relations were bidirectional, and we found that higher beginning-of-year public regard was associated with higher school belonging over the course of the school year, but beginning-of-year public regard was not associated with later reports of school discrimination. We did not find differences in the strength or significance of any of these relations across ethnic-racial groups. Our findings highlight the important role of school contextual factors in the evolving ethnic-racial identity beliefs of adolescents from ethnoracially minoritized backgrounds.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1505740
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Adolescents' ethnic-racial identity, including their beliefs about their ethnic-racial group, are shaped by their social contexts. One important ethnic-racial identity belief is public regard, which reflects adolescents' perceptions of their ethnic-racial group's social standing; however, limited research explores how school-based forces inform ethnoracially minoritized adolescents' public regard. Accordingly, the present study examined the interrelations among school discrimination, school belonging, and public regard over the course of a school year among Black, Asian American, and Latine adolescents (n = 2,060; M[subscript age] = 15.91, 46% boys, 54% girls or another gender). Findings suggested that across the three ethnic-racial groups, higher beginning-of-year school belonging was associated with higher public regard over the course of the school year, whereas higher beginning-of-year school discrimination was associated with lower public regard over the course of the school year. Drawing on an ecological systems framing, we also explored whether these relations were bidirectional, and we found that higher beginning-of-year public regard was associated with higher school belonging over the course of the school year, but beginning-of-year public regard was not associated with later reports of school discrimination. We did not find differences in the strength or significance of any of these relations across ethnic-racial groups. Our findings highlight the important role of school contextual factors in the evolving ethnic-racial identity beliefs of adolescents from ethnoracially minoritized backgrounds.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/dev0002157