Restricted accessEditorialFirst published online 2021-11
Acknowledging Bias and Pursuing Protections to Support Anti-Racist Developmental Science: Critical Contributions of Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory
American racism is deeply engrained in the nation’s ecology including its chronosystem and contributes to the nation’s unavoidably shared vulnerability. Interrogating an accurate portrayal of the nation’s history is informative for securing anti-racist research. This special issue commentary discusses the role of Spencer’s phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) as a means of providing an epistemic framing for disentangling and directly addressing the problem of structural racism in the conduct of science. Additionally it demonstrates the efficacy of PVEST and offers conclusions as opportunities for achieving anti-racist scholarship especially significant to adolescents’ well-being and the improved conduct of developmental science.
AllenW. R.SpencerM. B.BrookinsG. K. (1985). Synthesis: Black children keep on growing. In SpencerM. B.BrookinsG. K.AllenW. R. (Eds.), Beginnings: The social and affective development of Black children (pp. 301–314). Erlbaum.
2.
BronfenbrennerU. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
3.
FisherC. B.HoagwoodK.BoyceC.DusterT.FrankD. A.GrissoT.LevineR. J.MacklinR.SpencerM. B.TakanishiR.TrimbleJ. E.ZayasL. H. (2002). Research ethics for mental health science involving ethnic minority children and youths. American Psychologist, 57(12), 1024–1040.
4.
FisherC. B.WallaceS. A.FentonR. E. (2000). Discrimination distress during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 679–695. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026455906512.
5.
GuthrieE. R. (2004). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd ed.). Pearson. (Original work published 1970).
6.
HavighurstR. J. (1953). Human development and education. McKay.
7.
HetheringtonE. M. (1979). Divorce: A child’s perspective. American Psychologist, 34, 851–859.
Nichols LodatoB.HallJ.SpencerM. B. (2021). Vulnerability and resiliency implications of human capital and linked inequality presence denial perspectives: Acknowledging Zigler’s contributions to child well-being. Development and Psychopathology, 33(2), 684–699. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579420001893
11.
SpencerM. B. (1995). Old issues and new theorizing about African American youth: A phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory. In TaylorR. L. (Ed.), African American youth: Their social and economic status in the United States (pp. 37–69). Praeger.
12.
SpencerM. B. (2006). Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: Development of diverse groups. In LernerR. M.DamonW. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, vol. 1: Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 829–893). Wiley.
13.
SpencerM. B. (2008). Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: Development of diverse groups. In DamonW.LernerR. M. (Eds.), Child and adolescent development: An advanced course (pp. 696–735). Wiley.
14.
SpencerM. B.HarpalaniV. (2004). Nature, nurture, and the question of “how?” A phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory. In CollC. G.BearerE. L.LernerR. M. (Eds.), Nature and nurture: The complex interplay of genetic and environmental influences on human behavior and development (pp. 53–77). Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
SpencerM. B.LodatoB. N.SpencerC.RichL.GraziulC.English-ClarkeT. (2019). Chapter four—Innovating resilience promotion: Integrating cultural practices, social ecologies, and development-sensitive conceptual strategies for advancing child well-being. In HenryD. A.Votruba-DrzalE.MillerP. (Eds.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 57, pp. 101–148). JAI. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2019.05.005
16.
SpencerM. B.McLoydV. (1990). Special issue on minority child development. Child Development, 61(2), 1142–1148.
17.
SpencerM. B.SwansonD. P.HarpalaniV. (2015). Conceptualizing the self: Contributions of normative human processes, diverse contexts and social opportunity. In LambM.CollC. G.LernerR. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (pp. 750–793). John Wiley.
18.
StevensonH. C.Jr. (1997). Missed, Dissed, and Pissed”: Making Meaning of Neighborhood Risk, Fear and Anger Management in Urban Black Youth. Cultural Diversity and Mental Health, 3(1), 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.3.1.37
