Developing and Enacting Racial/Ethnic Identities

描述（申请人提供）：拟议的研究重点是发展，维护和种族和民族[R/E]身份的后果之间的主要是非洲裔美国人和欧洲裔美国人的样本从大西洋中部国家，继续分析和新的数据收集，这将允许检查R/E身份，相关过程，以及从青春期早期（大约12岁）到成年早期（大约30岁）的健康发育。我们提出了一个多年的混合方法研究项目，该项目检查个人和背景意义，这些意义（a）与参与者的绝对R/E群体成员身份相关，（B）构成个人层面R/E身份的基础，（c）与种族歧视的认知相关，（d）与健康发展系统相关。第一个主要目标是记录R/E群体成员资格的性质（由个人和社会群体定义），这些群体成员资格所附带的心理意义的程度（即，R/E身份），以及相应的发展途径（由R/E身份和健康的心理，身体和社会发展指标定义）。第二个主要目的是研究R/E身份结构和过程如何调节基于种族的社会压力源和最佳人类发展之间的关系。我们计划检验的主要假设是，感知到的种族歧视对健康发展的影响将随着个人R/E身份的内容、结构和过程（例如，关于社会构建的群体成员类别的信念、感受和价值观）。我们还希望经验性地记录青少年心理R/E身份的发展在多大程度上对成年早期的持续R/E身份的发展和健康的成年功能至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research is focused on the development, maintenance, and consequences of racial and ethnic [R/E] identity among a primarily African-American and European-American sample from a mid-Atlantic state, with continued analyses and a new data collection which will allow for the examination of R/E identity, related processes, and healthy development from early adolescence (approximately age 12) through early adulthood (approximately age 30). We propose a multi-year, mixed-methods research project that examines the personal and contextual meanings that (a) are associated with participants' categorical R/E group memberships, (b) form the basis for person-level R/E identities, (c) are associated with perceptions of racial discrimination, and (d) relate systematically to healthy development. The first major aim is to document the nature of R/E group memberships (defined by both individuals and social groups), the extent of psychological meanings attached to these group memberships (i.e., R/E identity), and the corresponding developmental pathways (defined by both R/E identity and indicators of healthy mental, physical, and social development). The second major aim is to examine how R/E identity structures and processes moderate the relations between race-based social stressors and optimal human development. The primary hypothesis we plan to test is that the effects of perceived racial discrimination on healthy development will vary systematically as a function of the content, structure, and processes of individuals' R/E identities (e.g., beliefs, feelings, and values about socially-constructed, group-membership categories). We also want to document empirically the extent to which adolescent psychological R/E identity development matters for continued R/E identity development during early adulthood and for healthy adult functioning.