Collaborative Proposal: Friendships, Identity Development, and Adolescent Adjustment in High School

随着美国青少年在种族上变得更加多元化，所有青少年的社交和学业成功在一定程度上取决于他们在学校与不同同龄人的经历。在那些来自少数族裔或少数族裔背景的人中，拥有强烈的种族认同感预示着积极的社会和学术成果。民族-种族认同(ERI)是指一个人对自己的民族或种族以及他们的民族或种族与其自我意识的关系的信念和理解。这项研究不仅调查了青少年自己的ERI如何塑造他们的经历，也调查了他们同龄人的ERI如何影响他们的发展。这项研究将对青少年的ERI如何展开以及青少年彼此之间的互动如何支持高中期间的积极教育结果提供重要的新见解。纵向数据将从两所高中的学生那里收集，每所高中都位于美国不同的地理区域。研究将检验关于ERI在同伴关系背景下发生交互作用的程度以及个人和同龄人的ERI和同伴关系特征在适应中的作用的假设。预期具有较强ERI的青年和有较强ERI的朋友的青年将表现出最理想的结果，因为他们不仅利用自己的内部资源，而且通过融入可以利用类似资源的同龄人网络而受益。同伴关系特征有望在个体的ERI和他们随着时间的推移而适应之间的联系中起到中介作用，特别是对于较年轻的青少年。这项研究将使用创新的、纵向的社会网络建模方法。该项目的实施将通过以下方式对多个领域产生革命性影响：(A)影响研究人员如何在未来的工作中构思和实施环境对环境影响指数发展的影响；(B)加深对环境如何调节和调解环境影响指数与调整之间联系的理解；(C)使该领域转向研究同行网络影响的微观知情机制，而不是仅仅侧重于目前在该领域占主导地位的选择和社会化进程；以及(D)成为跨学科方法的典范。

As U.S. adolescents become more ethnically diverse, all youths' social and academic success depends in part on their experiences with diverse peers in school. Among those from ethnic or racial minority backgrounds, having a strong Ethnic-Racial Identity is predictive of positive social and academic outcomes. Ethnic-Racial Identity (ERI) refers to a person's beliefs about and understanding of their own ethnicity or race and how their ethnicity or race relates to their sense of self. This research investigates not only how adolescents' own ERI shapes their experiences but also how the ERIs of their peers impacts their development. The study will provide important new insights into how adolescents' ERI unfolds and how adolescents' interactions with each other support positive educational outcomes during the high school years.Longitudinal data will be collected from students in two high schools, each in a distinct geographical region of the U.S. Hypotheses will be tested regarding the extent to which ERI development occurs transactionally in the context of peer relationships as well as the role of individuals' and peers' ERI and peer relationship characteristics in adjustment. Youth with a stronger ERI and who have friends with a stronger ERI are expected to exhibit the most optimal outcomes, as they not only draw on their own internal resources but also benefit from by being embedded in a network of peers who can draw on similar resources. Peer relationship characteristics are expected to mediate associations between individuals' ERI and their adjustment over time, particularly for younger adolescents. The study will use innovative, longitudinal social network modeling methods. The implementation of this project will have a transformative effect on multiple fields by (a) impacting how researchers conceptualize and operationalize contextual influences on ERI development in future work; (b) increasing understanding of how contexts moderate and mediate the links between ERI and adjustment; (c) moving the field toward examining micro-informed mechanisms of peer network influence rather than focusing exclusively on selection and socialization processes, which dominates the current discourse in this area; and (d) serving as an exemplar of an interdisciplinary approach.