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

本项目将研究非裔美国人的民族认同和种族认同（ERI）——种族和民族对个人的个人意义和意义——在向成年过渡期间塑造种族歧视经历与生物心理社会发展之间的联系的多方面方式。本研究的具体目的是调查ERI是否减轻或加剧了种族歧视与发展之间的联系，并确定ERI在向成年过渡期间影响发展的机制。该项目将增进对ERI如何运作以及社会背景在种族歧视与发展之间关系中所起作用的理解。该项目还将讨论关于ERI假定的积极影响的理论辩论。将使用问卷调查和生理应激反应测试来评估向成年过渡期间的发展结果。更广泛的影响是重大的，因为研究结果可用于改善弱势青年的社会和心理健康。此外，研究结果可以潜在地支持和进一步以证据为基础的预防干预工作，旨在促进青年的积极发展。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，但很少有系统的尝试来理清这些混杂的发现。参与者将是一所东南部以白人为主的机构和一所大西洋中部历史悠久的黑人学院/大学的非裔美国年轻人。学生将完成一系列评估关键研究变量的问卷，随后是两次实验室挑战，每年一次，连续三年。自主反应（由心血管心理生理学索引）将在实验室挑战期间进行评估。本研究的核心问题是，青少年ERI的保护功能或脆弱性功能是否受到青少年所处社会环境的影响，以及青少年ERI对生物心理社会发展的影响是否可以通过应对技能、自尊和对种族歧视的看法来解释。主要假设是：1)在多样性水平较低的背景下，ERI将成为种族歧视与发展之间联系的脆弱性因素；2)种族歧视的初始水平将导致ERI的变化，而ERI的变化又将与发展的变化相关联；3)种族主义评价和应对可以解释ERI与成年期发展变化之间的关系。假设将使用潜在增长曲线模型进行检验。这些结果将用于为制定适合具体情况的ERI干预试点提供建议。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.