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

对大多数年轻人来说，升入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，但对许多青少年来说，中学过渡也与动机、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关注非洲裔美国学生，他们面临着与种族差异和种族歧视意识日益增强相关的额外挑战。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进入种族不和谐环境的学生的过程有何不同。本研究的主要焦点是父母关于成就的态度和信念及其种族社会化策略对非裔美国青少年成就追求的作用。在以黑人为主的小学中，1300名五年级非裔美国学生（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测量。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感知的测量。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、父母和老师将再次完成研究措施。两个评核点的成绩资料均由学校收集。分析将区分黑人青年在黑人占主导地位的学校和种族融合学校的经历，并将阐明导致非裔美国青年成功学业成就的父母社会化。这项研究将为一般的发展理论和针对非裔美国人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所起的关键作用。该研究还将探讨种族特有态度（种族认同和与种族有关的成就归因）的发展如何影响黑人青年的教育经历。最后，这项研究将及时评估学校种族构成在美国学校迅速重新种族隔离的时代所起的作用。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针对中学层面更广泛的学校改革的政策提供信息。

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.