Can racial identity be promotive of academic efficacy?

Abstract

We hypothesised a gender specific relationship between efficacy and three components of racial identity, feeling that achievement is part of being black, feeling connected to the black community, and sensitivity to, awareness of outgroup barriers and racism. Because male gender socialisation downplays relationality, the “connectedness” component of racial identity was posited to be particularly helpful for boys. Because female gender socialisation downplays independent achievement and agency, the “achievement” component of racial identity was posited to be particularly helpful for girls in buffering the negative effects of the “awareness of racism” component. Controlling for fall grades and academic efficacy, fall racial identity significantly predicted spring academic efficacy differentially for boys and girls (n = 91 African-American eighth graders), with the lack of the achievement component of racial identity being particularly detrimental to girls.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aiken, L.S. , & West, S.G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .

Allen, R. , Dawson, M. , & Brown. R. (1989). A schema-based approach to modeling an African-American racial belief system . American Political Science Review, 83, 421-441 .

Azibo, D.A.Y. (1991). An empirical test of the fundamental postulates of an African personality metatheory . The Western Journal of Black Studies, 15, 183-195 .

Bakan, D. (1966). The duality of human existence. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally .

Bennett, M. , Lyons, E. , Sanio F. , & Barrett, M. (1998). Children’s subjective identification with the group and in-group favoritism . Developmental Psychology, 34, 902-909 .

Boykin, A. , & Toms, F. (1985). Black child socialization: A conceptual framework. In H. McAdoo & J. McAdoo (Eds.), Black children: Social, educational, and parental environments (pp. 33-51). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .

Crain, R. (1996). The influence of age, race, and gender on child and adolescent multidimensional self-concept. In B.A. Bracken (Ed.), Handbook of self-concept: Developmental, social, and clinical considerations (pp. 395-420). New York: Wiley .

Crocker, J. & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma . Psychological Review, 96, 608-630 .

Croizet J. , & Claire T. (1998). Extending the concept of stereotype threat to social class: The intellectual underperformance of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 588-594 .

10.

Cross, S.E. , & Madson, L. (1997). Models of the self: Self-construals and gender . Psychological Bulletin, 122, 5-37 .

11.

Damon, W. & Hart, D. (1988). Self-understanding in childhood and adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press .

12.

Eccles, J. (1993). Middle School Family Survey Study 1993. Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado, USA .

13.

Eccles, J. , Lord, S. , Roeser, R. , Barber, B. & Jozefowicz, D. (1997). In J. Schulenberg , J. Maggs , & K. Hurrelmann (Eds.), Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence (pp. 283-320). New York: Cambridge University Press .

14.

Eccles, J. , & Wigfield, A , (1995). In the mind of the actor: The structure of adolescent achievement task values and expectancy-relate d beliefs . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 215-225 .

15.

Eccles, J. , Wigfield, A , Harold, R. , & Blumenfeld, P. (1993). Age and gender differences in children’s self and task perceptions in elementary school . Child Development, 64, 830-847 .

16.

Feingold, A , (1994). Gender differences in personality: A meta analysis . Psychological Bulletin, 116, 429-456 .

17.

Finkel, S.E. (1995). Causal analysis with panel data. Sage University Paper series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-105. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .

18.

Fordham, S. (1988). Racelessness as a strategy in Black students’ school success: Pragmatic strategy or pyrrhic victory? Harvard Educational Review, 58, 54-84 .

19.

Fordham, S , & Ogbu, J.U. (1986). Black students school success: Coping with the “burden of acting white” . The Urban Review, 18, 176-206 .

20.

Gordon, E. , & Song, L. (1994). Variations in the experience of resilience. In M. Wang & E. Gordon (Eds.), Educational resilience in inner-city America: Challenges and prospects (pp. 27-44). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .

21.

Graham, S. (1994). Motivation in African Americans . Review of Educational Research, 64, 55-117 .

22.

Grant, C.A. , & Sleeter, C.E. (1988). Race, class and gender and abandoned dreams . Teachers College Record, 90, 19-40 .

23.

Halperin, S. (1998). Summary. In S. Halperin (Ed.), The forgotten half revisited (pp. I-VIII). Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum .

24.

Harter S. (1999). The construction of the self: A developmental perspective. New York: Guilford Press .

25.

Harter, S. , Whitesell, N. , & Kowalski, P. (1992). Individual-difference s in the effects of educational transitions on young adolescent’s perceptions of competence and motivational orientation . American Educational Research Journal, 29, 777-807 .

26.

Higginbotham E. , & Weber, L. (1992). Moving up with kin and community . Gender and Society, 6, 416-440 .

27.

Hudson, R. (1991). Black male adolescent development deviating from the past: Challenges for the future. In B. Bowser (Ed.), Black male adolescents: Parenting and education in community context (pp. 271-281). Lanham, MD: University Press of America .

28.

Jackson, F. (1992). Race and ethnicity as biological constructs . Ethnicity and Disease, 2, 120-125 .

29.

Jackson, J.S. , McCullough, W.R. , Gurin, G. & Broman, C. (1991). Race identity. In J. Jackson (Ed.), Life in Black America: Findings from a national survey. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .

30.

Jencks, C. (1991). Is the American underclass growing? In C. Jencks & P.E. Peterson (Eds.), The urban underclass. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution .

31.

Kirschenman, J. , & Neckerman, K.M. (1991). “We’d love to hire them, but...”: The meaning of race for employers. In C. Jencks , & P.E. Peterson (Eds.), The urban underclass (pp. 203-232). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution .

32.

Markus, H. , & Oyserman, D. (1989). Gender and thought: The role of the self-concept. In M. Crawford & M. Gentry (Eds.), Gender and thought: Psychological perspectives (pp. 100-127). New York: Springer .

33.

Marsh, H. (1989). Age and sex effects in multiple dimensions of self-concept. Preadolescence to early adulthood . Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 417-430 .

34.

Masten, A. (1994). Resilience in individual development: Successful adaptation despite risk and adversity. In M. Wang & E. Gordon (Eds.), Educational resilience in inner-city America: Challenges and prospects (pp. 3-26). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .

35.

McAdoo, J. (1991). The roles of Black fathers in the socialization of Black children. In H. McAdoo (Ed.), Black families (pp. 257-269). Newbury Park, CA: Sage .

36.

McCreary, M. , Slavin, L. , & Berry, E. (1996). Predicting problem behavior and self-esteem among African-American adolescents . Journal of Adolescent Research, 11, 194-215 .

37.

McNair-Knox, F. (1991). Tapping into teen talk: Parenting strategies for bridging the intergenerationa l communication gap. In B. Bowser (Ed.), Black male adolescents: Parenting and education in community context (pp. 235-258). Lanham, MD: University Press of America .

38.

Miller. L.S. (1995). An American imperative. Accelerating minority educational advancement. London/New Haven, CT: Yale University Press .

39.

Ogbu, J. (1991). Minority coping responses and school experience . Journal of Psychohistory, 18, 433-456 .

40.

Oyserman, D. (in press). Self-concept and identity. In A. Tessor & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of social psychology. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press .

41.

Oyserman, D. , Gant, L. , & Ager, J. (1995). A socially contextualize d model of African-American identity: Possible selves and school persistence . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1216-1232 .

42.

Oyserman, D. , & Sakamoto, I. (1997). Being Asian American: Identity, cultural constructs, and stereotype perception . Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 33, 433-451 .

43.

Paschall, M. , & Hubbard, M. (1998). Effects of neighbourhood and family stressors on African American male adolescents’ self-worth and propensity for violent behavior . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 825-831 .

44.

Petersen, A. , Leffert, N. , Graham, B. , Alwin, J. , & Ding, S. (1997). Promoting mental health during the transition to adulthood. In J. Schulenberg , J. Maggs , & K. Hurrelmann (Eds.), Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence, (pp. 471-497). New York: Cambridge University Press .

45.

Phinney, J. , & Kohatsu, E. (1997). Ethnic and racial development and mental health. In J. Schulenberg , J. Maggs , & K. Hurrelmann (Eds.), Health risks and developmental transitions during adolescence (pp. 420-443). New York: Cambridge University Press .

46.

Quintana, S.M. (1998). Children’s developmental understanding of ethnicity and race . Applied and Preventive Psychology, 7, 27-45 .

47.

Schaefer, R.T. , (1991). Racial and ethnic groups. New York: Harper Collins .

48.

Scheier, L. , & Botwin, G. (1998). Relations of social skills, personal competence and adolescent alcohol use: A developmental exploratory study . Journal of Early Adolescence, 18, 77-114 .

49.

Seidman, E. , Allen, L. , Aber, J.L. , Mitchell, C. , & Feinman, J. (1994). The impact of school transitions in early adolescence on the self-system and social context of poor urban youth . Child Development, 65, 507-522 .

50.

Seidman, E. , & French, S.E. (1997). Normative transitions in urban schools during adolescence: The optimal timing and nature of preventive interventions. In H.J. Walberg , O. Reyes , & R.P. Weissberg (Eds.), Children and youth: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 166-189). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .

51.

Seidman, E. , Yoshikawa, H. , Roberts, A. , Chesir-Teran, D. , Allen, L. , Friedman, J. , & Aber, J. (1998). Structural and experiential neighbourhood contexts, developmental stage and antisocial behavior among urban adolescents in poverty . Development and Psychopathology, 10, 259-281 .

52.

Sellers R. , Rowley, S. , Chavous, T. , Shelton, J. & Smith, M. (1997). Multidimensional inventory of black identity: A preliminary investigation of reliability and construct validity . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 805-815 .

53.

Shelton, J. (1999) Let’s talk about race . Talk presented at the Group Dynamics Seminar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

54.

Shih, M. , Pittinsky, T.L. , & Ambady, N. (1999). Stereotype susceptibility: Identity salience and shifts in quantitative performance . Psychological Science, 10, 80-84 .

55.

Steele, C. (1997). A burden of suspicion: How stereotypes shape the intellectual identities and performance of women and African-Americans . American Psychologist, 52, 613-629 .

56.

Spencer, M. , Cunningham, M. , & Swanson, D. (1995). Identity as coping: Adolescent African-American males’ adaptive responses to high-risk environments. In H. Harris , H. Blue. & E. Griffith (Eds.), Racial and ethnic identity: Psychological development and creative expression (pp. 31-52). New York: Routledge .

57.

Wang, M. , Haertel, G. , & Walberg, H. (1994). Educational resilience in inner cities. In: M. Wang & E. Gordon (Eds.), Educational resilience in inner-city America: Challenges and prospects (pp. 45-72). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .

58.

Whittler, T.E. , Calantone, R.J. , & Young, M.R. (1991). Strength of ethnic affiliation: Examining Black identification with Black culture . Journal of Social Psychology, 131, 461-467 .