Abstract
While the detrimental consequences of racial/ethnic discrimination for adolescent well-being are well-established, less is known about the impact of SES-based discrimination and the potential protective benefits of adolescents’ intraindividual assets. The current study addressed these gaps by investigating the longitudinal associations between racial/ethnic and SES-based educator-perpetrated discrimination and adolescents’ academic well-being and assessed whether psychological resources moderated these pathways. To do so, the study used longitudinal data from a diverse sample of 750 9th grade students (54% female; 41% White, 34% Latina/o/x, 8% Asian American, 6% African American, 11% biracial/other race/ethnicity; 43% had parents with an associate’s degree or less) in the Southwestern U.S. who were subsequently surveyed one year later. Educator-perpetrated racial/ethnic discrimination was negatively associated with students’ school engagement, and both psychological resilience and self-efficacy emerged as protective for students’ educational expectations in the face of racial/ethnic and SES-based discrimination, respectively. The results of the current study highlight the role of discriminatory treatment in educational disparities and provide insights on effective coping strategies to combat the negative impacts of discrimination in academics.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, and T32HD007081, Training Program in Population Studies, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This work was also supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1551954) and NICHD (K01HD087479) awarded to the second author. Opinions reflect those of the authors and not necessarily those of the granting agencies.
Authors’ Contributions
C.F. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; A.B. participated in the design and coordination of the study and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
This research was supported by grants, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, and T32HD007081, Training Program in Population Studies, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This work was also supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1551954) and NICHD (K01HD087479) awarded to the second author.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available [blinded] from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Texas at Austin (No. 2016-02-0149).
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Appendix A
Appendix A
The moderating role of psychological resilience on the link between educator-perpetrated racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations
The moderating role of self-efficacy on the link between educator-perpetrated SES-based discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations
The moderating role of shift-and-persist on the link between educator-perpetrated SES-based discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations
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Fernandez, C.C., Benner, A.D. Psychological Resources as a Buffer Between Racial/Ethnic and SES-based Discrimination and Adolescents’ Academic Well-being. J Youth Adolescence 51, 599–613 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01570-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01570-z