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。本研究的目的是检验一组有关城市中学种族/民族多样性的社会心理利益的相互关联的假设。本研究假设多元化对学生心理健康、群体间态度和学校适应的促进作用主要通过以下三种中介机制：(1)感知脆弱性的降低；（二）跨民族友谊的形成和维护；(3)复杂社会身份的发展。Aims 1-3研究了这些调节机制。在目标4中，学校结构特征（如学业跟踪）的调节作用可能会限制学生的混合机会。这四个目标中提出的假设将在一项为期3年的纵向研究中进行检验，研究对象是大约3500名进入南加州14所城市中学之一的六年级学生。大样本将是种族多样化的，包括拉丁裔，非裔美国人，亚洲/太平洋岛民，白人和多民族学生。这些学生就读的14所中学将经过精心挑选，以不同的种族/民族组成和多样性水平。在六年级秋季和春季以及七年级和八年级春季收集学生感知脆弱性、跨种族友谊、社会认同以及心理健康、群体间态度和学校适应结果的数据，共四波数据。结构方程模型和多层模型将用于跟踪这些相关变量随时间的增长和变化。通过研究成功适应的途径，本研究的首要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青少年早期的许多规范挑战。这项研究可能在三个方面具有重要意义。首先，这项研究可以为思考种族/民族多样性的意义和测量提供变革性的方法。新兴的种族/民族多样性观点是一个动态的、多维的结构，可以用于其他社会环境的研究，包括社区或工作场所，在这些环境中，种族多样性的增加是一个主要关注的问题。其次，该项目有可能通过关注不同种族的学校环境如何缓冲这些挑战，为青少年早期规范发展的社会心理挑战提供新的知识。与其他发展研究项目不同，该项目将学校多样性概念化为一种保护因素。第三，该研究对影响青年的社会政策具有启示意义。通过论证多元化的学校对所有学生的学术和社会福祉的贡献，研究结果可以为在我国城市公立学校实现更大的种族/民族多样性的法律选择的讨论做出贡献。

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.