Ethnic Identity & Psychological Adjustment among African, Asian & Latino Youth

描述(申请人提供)：拟议研究的目的是研究种族认同在非裔、亚裔和拉丁裔美国青年日常生活中的作用。青春期是寻求和构建身份的发展时期；对于少数族裔青年来说，鉴于美国社会赋予族裔的意义和意义，这种身份可能特别复杂。虽然许多理论家讨论了种族认同的流动性，但令人惊讶的是，很少有实证支持，纵向研究更少。结合发展心理学和社会心理学理论，我们通过考察青少年在自然环境和环境中移动时的民族认同的流动性，采用按情境的方法进行研究。因此，这项拟议的研究考察了背景在全球和直接层面上对种族认同突显的流动性的影响。由于青年将某些个人特征(例如，稳定的种族认同)带入每一种环境，因此还必须审查同一个人在不同环境中以及在相同环境中的不同个人突出种族身份的独特经历。为此，我们采用经验抽样、日常日记和调查相结合的方法，在多个层面上测量种族认同。此外，有关民族认同的文献表明，它与年轻人对自己的感觉有关；因此，本研究将考察民族认同突显的流动性如何与不同日子和情景下心理情绪的流动性相关。最后，我们将在三年的时间里审查这些联系，以便研究日常经历如何影响长期稳定的族裔认同的发展和维持。发展理论家提出，随着时间的推移，年轻人在环境中的反复经历最终会影响更稳定特征的发展和保持；我们将通过考察种族认同感来检验这一理论。我们认为，这个项目对于了解美国少数族裔青年的日常经历，以及这些经历如何随着时间的推移塑造他们的心理调整(例如，抑郁、焦虑)和自我价值感(例如，自尊)具有特别重要的意义。通过将非洲、亚洲和拉美裔美国青年包括在内，我们将能够检查这些群体中的青年之间的差异以及他们作为少数群体的共同点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of the proposed research is to examine the role of ethnic identity in the everyday lives of African, Asian and Latino American youths. Adolescence is a development period of identity search and construction; and for minority youth, this identity may be particularly complex given the meaning and significance that United States society places on ethnicity. While many theorists have discussed the fluidity of ethnic identity, there is surprisingly little empirical support and even less longitudinal research. Incorporating developmental and social psychological theories, we take a person by situation approach to our study by examining the fluidity of ethnic identity as youths move through their natural environments and settings. As such, the proposed research examines the impact of context, at a global and immediate level, on the fluidity of ethnic identity salience. Since youths bring certain personal characteristics (e.g., stable ethnic identity) into each setting it is also important to examine the unique experiences of ethnic identity salience for the same individual across different contexts as well as for different individuals in the same contexts. To this end, we employ a combination of experience sampling, daily diary and survey methods to measure ethnic identity at more than on level. As well, the literature on ethnic identity suggests that it is related to how youths feel about themselves; therefore, this study will examine how the fluidity of ethnic identity salience is associated with the fluidity of psychological feelings across days and situations. Finally, we will examine these associations over a three-year period in order to examine how everyday experiences impact the development and maintenance of stable ethnic identity over time. Developmental theorists have suggested that it is youths repeated experience in settings that culminate over time to influence the development and maintenance of more stable traits; we will test this theory by examining ethnic identity. We believe that this project is of particular relevance to understanding the everyday experiences of minority youth in the United States and how these experiences shape their psychological adjustment (e.g., depression, anxiety) and feelings of self-worth (e.g., self-esteem) over time. By including African, Asian and Latino American youth, we will be able to examine differences between youths in each of these groups as well as commonalities they share as minorities.