School Cultural Socialization and Academic Performance: Examining Ethnic-Racial Identity Development as a Mediator Among African American Adolescents

Juan Del Toro, Ming Te Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Historic racial disparities in the United States have created an urgent need for evidence-based strategies promoting African American students’ academic performance via school-based ethnic-racial socialization and identity development. However, the temporal order among socialization, identity, and academic performance remains unclear in extant literature. This longitudinal study examined whether school cultural socialization predicted 961 African American adolescents’ grade point averages through their ethnic-racial identities (49.6% males; Mage = 13.60; 91.9% qualified for free lunch). Results revealed that youth who perceived more school cultural socialization had better grades 1 and 2 years later. In addition, identity commitment (but not exploration) fully mediated these relations. Implications for how educators can help adolescents of color succeed in schools are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1458-1475
Number of pages18
JournalChild development
Volume92
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Society for Research in Child Development

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