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

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的目的是研究种族认同在非洲，亚洲和拉丁美洲青年的日常生活中的作用。青春期是一个寻找和建构身份的发展时期；而对于少数族裔青年来说，鉴于美国社会赋予族裔的意义和重要性，这种身份认同可能特别复杂。虽然许多理论家已经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，甚至更少的纵向研究。结合发展和社会心理学理论，我们通过考察青年在其自然环境和环境中移动时种族认同的流动性，采用基于情境的个人方法进行研究。因此，拟议的研究在全球和直接层面上审查了背景对种族特征显著性流动性的影响。由于青年在每个环境中都具有某些个人特征（例如，稳定的种族认同），因此检查同一个人在不同环境中以及同一环境中不同个人的种族认同突出的独特经历也很重要。为此，我们采用经验抽样、日常日记和调查相结合的方法，在多个层面上衡量种族认同。此外，关于种族认同的文献表明，这与年轻人对自己的感觉有关；因此，本研究将探讨族群认同显著性的流动性如何与跨日、跨情境的心理感受流动性相关联。最后，我们将在三年的时间里研究这些联系，以研究日常经历如何随着时间的推移影响稳定的种族认同的发展和维持。发展理论家认为，随着时间的推移，年轻人在环境中的重复经历达到顶峰，影响了更稳定特征的发展和维持；我们将通过考察民族认同来检验这一理论。我们相信这个项目对于理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）特别相关。通过纳入非洲、亚洲和拉丁美洲青年，我们将能够研究这些群体青年之间的差异，以及他们作为少数民族的共同之处。

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.