Collaborative Proposal: Developmental Mechanisms of African American Ethnic and Racial Identity During the Transition to Adulthood

该项目将研究非洲裔美国人的族裔认同和种族认同(ERI)--种族和族裔对个人的个人意义和意义--如何在向成年过渡期间塑造种族歧视经历和生物心理社会发展之间的联系。这项研究的具体目的是调查环境影响措施是否减轻或恶化种族歧视与发展之间的联系，以及确定环境影响措施在向成年期过渡期间影响发展的机制。该项目将增进对反歧视倡议如何运作以及社会背景在种族歧视与发展之间的联系中所起的作用的了解。该项目还将解决关于汇率倡议可能产生的积极影响的理论辩论。将使用问卷和生理应激反应测试来评估过渡到成年期间的发育结果。更广泛的影响是重大的，因为调查结果可以用来改善弱势青年的社会和心理福祉。此外，研究结果可能会支持旨在促进青年积极发展的循证预防干预努力。种族歧视对非洲裔美国青年在向成年过渡期间的健康发展构成重大风险。一些证据表明，ERI可以防止种族歧视的有害影响，但很少有系统性的尝试来理清混杂的结果。参与者将是非洲裔美国年轻人，就读于东南部一所以白人为主的机构和大西洋中部一所历史上以黑人为主的学院/大学。学生们将完成一系列评估关键研究变量的问卷，然后是两个实验室挑战，每年一次，连续三年。自主神经反应性(以心血管心理生理学为指标)将在实验室挑战期间进行评估。这项研究的中心问题是ERI的保护功能或脆弱性功能是否受到青年所处的社会背景的影响，以及ERI对生物心理社会发展的影响是否可以通过应对技能、自尊和种族歧视观念来解释。关键假设是：1)在多样性水平较低的情况下，ERI将在种族歧视与发展之间的联系中充当一个脆弱因素；2)最初的种族歧视水平将导致ERI的变化，而这反过来又与发展的变化有关；3)种族主义评估和应对将解释ERI与成人过渡期间发展变化之间的联系。假设将使用潜在增长曲线建模进行检验。这些结果将被用来为开发针对具体情况量身定做的试点ERI干预措施提供建议。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will examine the multifaceted ways in which African American ethnic identity and racial identity (ERI) - the personal significance and meaning of race and ethnicity to an individual - shapes the association between racial discrimination experiences and biopsychosocial development during the transition to adulthood. Specific aims of the study are to investigate whether ERI mitigates or worsens the association between racial discrimination and development as well as identify mechanisms by which ERI influences development during the transition to adulthood. This project will improve understanding of how ERI operates and the role social context plays in the associations between racial discrimination and development. The project will also address theoretical debates about the presumed positive impact of ERI. Developmental outcomes during the transition to adulthood will be assessed using questionnaires and physiological stress reactivity tests. Broader impacts are significant, because findings can be used to improve the social and psychological well-being of vulnerable youth. Moreover, findings can potentially support and further evidence-based prevention-intervention efforts aimed at fostering positive youth development.Racial discrimination constitutes a significant risk to the healthy development of African American youth during the transition to adulthood. Some evidence suggests that ERI protects against the harmful effects of racial discrimination, but there have been few systematic attempts to disentangle mixed findings. Participants will be African American young adults attending a southeastern, predominantly White institution and a mid-Atlantic historically Black college/university. Students will complete a series of questionnaires assessing key study variables followed by two laboratory challenges, once a year, for three consecutive years. Autonomic reactivity (as indexed by cardiovascular psychophysiology) will be assessed during the laboratory challenges. The central questions of the study are whether the protective or vulnerability function of ERI is influenced by the social context in which the youth are embedded and whether the impact of ERI on biopsychosocial development can be explained by coping skills, self-esteem, and perceptions of racial discrimination. Key hypotheses are: 1) ERI will act as a vulnerability factor in the link between racial discrimination and development in contexts with lower levels of diversity; 2) Initial levels of racial discrimination will lead to changes in ERI, which, in turn, will be associated with changes in development; and 3) Racism appraisals and coping will explain the association between ERI and changes in development during the transition to adulthood. Hypotheses will be tested using latent growth curve modeling. These results will be used to inform recommendations for the development of a contextually-tailored pilot ERI intervention.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.