Racial Discrimination and Mexican-Heritage Adolescents’ Ethnic-Racial Identities: The Role of School Latine Concentration

The current study investigated the combined influence of racial discrimination experiences and school Latine concentration on 7th-to-10th-grade changes in ethnic-racial identity (ERI; affirmation, exploration, resolution) for a community-recruited, southwestern sample of United States (U.S.) Mexican-heritage adolescents. Whether school Latine concentration moderated associations between racial discrimination and ERI was also assessed. Youth (<i>N</i> = 749; 7th: <i>M</i> _age = 12.80; 10th: <i>M</i> _age = 15.84; 48.9% female) self-reported experiences of peer and teacher racial discrimination in school settings in 7th grade and their ERI affirmation, exploration, and resolution in 7th and 10th grades. School Latine concentration data were publicly available. Across the transition to high school (7^th to 10^th grades), findings indicated that peer racial discrimination predicted increased exploration and resolution, and school Latine concentration predicted increased exploration. No associations were found with teacher racial discrimination and school Latine concentration was not a significant moderator. For U.S. Mexican-heritage youth, exposure to peer racial discrimination and greater access to co-ethnic peers in middle school may encourage the exploration of ethnicity-race, with peer racial discrimination also prompting a more resolved ERI. Findings help elucidate the role of school settings and experiences on ERI formation among the fastest-growing youth population in the U.S.