African American Racial Identity: Across Generations

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DESCRIPTION (investigator's abstract): The proposed research examines racial identity, race socialization practices, and psychological well-being outcomes in African American middle and high school adolescents and a primary caregiver. The study will examine these issues over a three-year period. The proposed study has three specific aims. These aims are to: (1) investigate the reciprocal relationships among parent and adolescent racial identity attitudes, race socialization perceptions, and experiences of racial discrimination in the process by which race messages are transmitted across generations; (2) determine the various trajectories in which racial identity development occurs as well as the factors associated with identity change in African American adolescents and adults; and (3) examine how adolescents' racial identity and parent and adolescents' experiences with racial discrimination influence African American adolescents' psychological functioning over time. The study utilizes the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity as a conceptual framework. Six hundred forty African American students in grades 8,9, and 10 and their primary will be recruited to participate in the study caregiver from a public school district in a Midwest city. Regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical linear modeling will be used to address the research questions raised in the specific aims. Results will be examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally as well as within and across generations. Findings from the proposed study should advance our understanding of culturally relevant variables and processes in the experiences and functioning of African American adolescents.