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Mapping the Intersections of Adolescents’ Ethnic-Racial Identity and Critical Consciousness

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Abstract

Ethnic racial identity and critical consciousness frame how youth of color understand themselves in their racialized worlds. Although both may be salient in the lives of youth of color, little work investigates how ethnic racial identity and critical consciousness development overlap to promote positive outcomes during adolescence. This theoretical paper contributes to this effort, providing an overview of research on both phenomena and mapping their potential areas of congruence. This article concludes with suggestions of how the two processes might influence one another to foster positive developmental outcomes among youth of color. This work urges researchers to examine the intersections of ethnic racial identity and critical consciousness processes among youth of color that can lead to a more holistic understanding of how youth of color draw upon these processes to resist and challenge racial marginalization, as well as navigate diverse sociopolitical contexts.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Kai Cortina and Dr. Edward Chang at the University of Michigan for their comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

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Contributions

CM conceived of the study, led the overall structural and theoretical framing of the manuscript (e.g., drafting the postulates and associated figures), and drafted the manuscript; MM conceived of the study, served as the writing team lead for the review of ethnic-racial identity and drafted and edited the content of the integration section; JB conceived of the study, served as the writing team lead for the review of critical consciousness and drafted and edited the content of the integration section; BP designed the figures for the manuscript and served on both the ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness review writing teams; she also co-drafted content for postulate 2; AA served on the writing team for the ethnic-racial identity review and co-drafted content for postulate 1; AM served on the writing team for the critical consciousness review and co-drafted content for postulate 3; SM served on the writing team for the ethnic-racial identity review and provided feedback on the intersectional perspectives provided in the manuscript; AH aided in the conceptualization and design of Fig. 1, served on the writing team for the ethnic racial identity review and provided the manuscript’s developmental perspective; MD served on the writing team for the critical consciousness review, providing substantial content to the critical consciousness debates and open questions section of the manuscript; he also provided significant substantive and editorial feedback throughout each iteration of the manuscript; DRD served on the writing team for the ethnic-racial review, providing substantial content to the ethnic-racial identity debates and open questions section of the manuscript; she also provided significant substantive and editorial feedback throughout each iteration of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Channing J. Mathews.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Mathews, C.J., Medina, M.A., Bañales, J. et al. Mapping the Intersections of Adolescents’ Ethnic-Racial Identity and Critical Consciousness. Adolescent Res Rev 5, 363–379 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-019-00122-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-019-00122-0

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