Directionality explored: Black Adolescents' awareness of systemic racism and race‐based experiences
Increases in conversations about race and racial discrimination experiences during adolescence make this a critical developmental period to investigate adolescents' awareness of racism. We examined bidirectional associations between race-based experiences and awareness of systemic racism-operationalized as understanding systemic causes of racial disparities in education. Adolescents who self-identified as African American/Black were surveyed in Grade 6 (n = 317; M<sub>age</sub> = 11.12; 48% girls) and Grade 8 (n = 247; M<sub>age</sub> = 13.15; 56% girls). Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that racial barrier messages, but not racial discrimination experiences, in Grade 6 positively predicted awareness of systemic racism in Grade 8. Adolescents' awareness of systemic racism in Grade 6 did not predict racial socialization or racial discrimination experiences in Grade 8.
Authors
- Beth Kurtz‐Costes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3026-4413)
- Natasha C. Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4475-7334)
- Stephanie J. Rowley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9299-0774)
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- UNC Libraries
- Published
- 2025-04-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.17615/b99f-2b64
- Primary Topic
- Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation