Psychosocial Benefits of Ethnic Diversity in Urban Middle Schools

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。本研究的目的是测试一组相互关联的假设，在城市中学种族/民族多样性的心理社会效益。 本研究假设，多元性可以通过三个中介机制促进学生的心理健康、群体间态度和学校适应：（1）减少感知的脆弱性;（2）形成和维持跨种族友谊;（3）发展复杂的社会身份。目标1-3审查了这些中介机制。 在目标4中，探讨了可能限制学生混合机会的学校结构特征（如学业跟踪）的调节影响。 四个目标中概述的假设将在一项为期3年的纵向研究中进行检查，大约3500名六年级学生进入加州南部的14所城市中学之一。 大样本将是种族多样的，包括拉丁美洲人，非洲裔美国人，亚洲/太平洋岛民，白色，和多种族的学生。这些学生就读的14所中学将经过精心挑选，在种族/民族组成和多样性水平上各不相同。关于学生感知的脆弱性，跨种族友谊和社会身份以及心理健康，群体间态度和学校适应的结果的数据将在6年级的秋季和春季以及7年级和8年级的春季收集，共四波数据。结构方程模型和多层次模型将用于跟踪这些相互关联的变量随时间的增长和变化。 通过研究成功适应的途径，本研究的总体目标是研究在何种条件下，更大的学校种族多样性可以缓冲许多早期青春期的规范性挑战。 首先，这项研究可以提供变革性的方式来思考种族/民族多样性的意义和衡量。种族/民族多样性作为一个动态的，多维度的结构的新兴观点可以在其他社会环境中的研究是有用的-包括邻里或工作场所-在那里增加种族多样性的影响是一个主要关注。 第二，该项目有可能通过重点关注族裔多样性学校环境可以缓冲其中一些挑战的方式，为青少年早期规范发展的心理社会挑战提供新的知识。与其他发展研究项目不同，该项目将学校多样性概念化为保护因素。第三，这项研究对影响青年的社会政策有影响。 通过使不同的学校有助于所有学生的学术和社会福祉的方式的情况下，其结果可以有助于在我们国家的城市公立学校实现更大的种族/民族多样性的法律的选择的话语。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The purpose of this research is to test a set of interrelated hypotheses about the psychosocial benefits of racial/ethnic diversity in urban middle schools. It is hypothesized that greater diversity can benefit students' mental health, intergroup attitudes, and school adaptation via three mediating mechanisms: (1) decreases in perceived vulnerability; (2) the formation and maintenance of cross-ethnic friendships; and (3) the development of complex social identities. These mediating mechanisms are examined in Aims 1-3. In Aim 4, the moderating influence of school structural characteristics, such as academic tracking, that may limit the mixing opportunities of students are explored. The hypotheses outlined in the four aims will be examined in a 3-year longitudinal study of approximately 3500 6th grade students as they enter one of 14 urban middle schools in southern California. The large sample will be ethnically diverse, comprised of Latino, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, White, and multi-ethnic students. The 14 middle schools that these students attend will be carefully selected to vary in racial/ethnic composition and level of diversity. Data on students' perceived vulnerability, cross-ethnic friendships, and social identities as well as the outcomes of mental health, intergroup attitudes, and school adaptation will be gathered in fall and spring of 6th grade and in spring of 7th and 8th grade, for a total of four waves of data. Structural equation modeling and multilevel modeling will be used to track growth and change in these interrelated variables over time. By studying pathways to successful adaptation, the overarching goal of the research is to examine the conditions under which greater school ethnic diversity can buffer many of the normative challenges of early adolescence.The research has the potential to be significant in three ways. First, the research can offer transformative ways to think about the meaning and measurement of racial/ethnic diversity. The emerging view of racial/ethnic diversity as a dynamic, multi-dimensional construct can be useful for research in other social settings -- including the neighborhood or workplace -- where the implications of increasing ethnic diversity are a primary concern. Second, the project has the potential to contribute new knowledge about the psychosocial challenges of normative development during early adolescence by focusing on the ways in which ethnically diverse school settings can buffer some of those challenges. Unlike other programs of developmental research, this project conceptualizes school diversity as a protective factor. Third, the research has implications for social policies affecting youth. By making a case for the ways in which diverse schools contribute to the academic and social well-being of all students, the results can contribute to the discourse on legal options for achieving greater racial/ethnic diversity in our nation's urban public schools.