Collaborative Research: A Longitudinal Study of Race Socialization and Achievement Striving in African American Adolescents

对大多数年轻人来说，过渡到中学是一个巨大变化的时期。 虽然这些变化中有许多是积极的，但中学过渡也与许多青少年的动机，自我概念和成就的下降有关。 关于这一关键转变的研究很少集中在非洲裔美国学生身上，他们面临着与种族差异和种族歧视意识日益增强有关的额外挑战。该项目的目标是确定导致黑人青年成功过渡到中学的因素，并调查学生过渡到种族和谐的中学环境与那些进入种族不和谐背景的学生的过程如何不同。本研究的一个主要焦点是父母对成就的态度和信念以及他们的种族社会化策略对非洲裔美国青少年成就努力的作用。在时间1，300名非裔美国人在主要是黑人小学五年级（即，至少75%的非裔美国学生）将完成父母种族社会化，种族中心性，归因信念，教育效用，感知能力和课堂参与的措施。他们的父母将完成种族社会化，种族中心性，归因信念，教育效用和儿童能力的看法的措施。教师将评估学生的能力和课堂参与度。两年后，当这些青少年进入不同种族组成的中学时，青少年、家长和教师将再次完成研究措施。成绩数据将从学校收集的两个评估点。分析将区分黑人青年的经验，主要是黑人与种族融合的学校，并将阐明父母的社会化，导致成功的学术成就的非洲裔美国青年。这项研究将为一般发展理论和针对非裔美国家庭和儿童的研究提供信息。 在一般发展方面，它将进一步阐明父母在向中学过渡期间发挥的关键作用。 这项研究还将讨论如何发展的种族特定的态度（种族身份和种族相关的成就归因）影响黑人青年的教育经验。 最后，这项研究将是一个及时的评估的作用，学校的种族组成在这个时代的快速种族隔离的美国学校。 因此，这些结果将为废除种族隔离后的教育政策，旨在消除黑人-白人考试成绩差距的政策以及更广泛的中学阶段学校改革政策提供信息。

The transition to middle school is a time of great change for most youth. Although many of these changes are positive, the middle school transition is also associated with declines in motivation, self-concept, and achievement for many young adolescents. Little research on this critical transition has focused on African American students, who face additional challenges associated with their growing awareness of racial differences and racial discrimination. The goal of this project is to identify factors that lead to success across the transition to middle school for Black youth, and to investigate how the process differs for students transitioning into a racially consonant middle school environment versus those moving into a racially dissonant context. A primary focus of the study is the role of parents' attitudes and beliefs about achievement and their race socialization strategies on the achievement striving of African American adolescents. At Time 1, 300 African American fifth graders in predominantly Black elementary schools (i.e., at least 75% African American students) will complete measures of parent race socialization, race centrality, attributional beliefs, educational utility, perceived competence, and classroom engagement. Their parents will complete measures of race socialization, race centrality, attributional beliefs, educational utility, and perceptions of the child's competence. Teachers will rate students' abilities and classroom engagement. Two years later, when these youth are in middle schools that vary in racial composition, the adolescents, parents, and teachers will again complete the study measures. Achievement data will be collected from schools for both assessment points. Analyses will distinguish among the experiences of Black youth in predominantly Black versus racially integrated schools and will elucidate parental socialization that leads to successful academic achievement for African American youth. This research will inform both general developmental theory and research specific to African American families and children. In terms of general development, it will further explicate the critical role that parenting plays during the transition to middle school. The study will also address how the development of race-specific attitudes (racial identity and race-related achievement attributions) affect the educational experiences of Black youth. Finally, the study will be a timely assessment of the role of school racial composition during this age of rapid resegregation of America's schools. Thus, these results will inform post-desegregation educational policy, policies aimed at eliminating the Black-White test score gap, and policies directed toward school reform at the middle school level more broadly.