The Relationships of School-Based Discrimination and Ethnic-Racial Socialization to African American Adolescents’ Achievement Outcomes

Meeta Banerjee,Christy Byrd,Stephanie Rowley

doi:10.3390/socsci7100208

Abstract

Schools provide a place of learning for adolescents and can be considered safe havens. However, in some cases, African American adolescents are subjected to discrimination by peers and teachers, which can impact their own academic engagement and abilities. Applying a risk and resilience framework, the present study examined the relationship between adolescents’ perceptions of school-based discrimination and academic outcomes in a sample of African American middle school students. Adolescents’ reports of perceived school-based discrimination and racial socialization were identified as predictors of academic outcomes (i.e., academic persistence, academic self-efficacy, and academic self-concept). The study also investigated whether racial socialization moderated the relationship between school-based discrimination and achievement outcomes. The study sample comprised 74 African American adolescents (49% female) and one of their parents. Hierarchical regressions showed that racial discrimination by peers was negatively related to academic outcomes. Furthermore, we found that dimensions of racial socialization buffered the effects of school-based discrimination on academic outcomes. Implications for the importance of investigating race-related factors in the academic outcomes of African American youth will be discussed.

Highlights

In some cases, African American adolescents are subjected to discrimination by peers and teachers, which can impact their own academic engagement and abilities
We examine the effects of the perceptions of school-based discrimination by both peers and teachers, which is conceptualized as net stress engagement within the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) framework
Some research has found that ethnic-racial socialization does not moderate the effects of general racial discrimination on academic outcomes (Neblett et al 2006)

Summary

Introduction

In some cases, African American adolescents are subjected to discrimination by peers and teachers, which can impact their own academic engagement and abilities. The study investigated whether racial socialization moderated the relationship between school-based discrimination and achievement outcomes. African American youth report more perceived school-based discrimination than youth of other racial backgrounds, with negative consequences for their psychosocial and academic outcomes (Chavous et al 2008; Cogburn et al 2011; Fisher et al 2000; Wong et al 2003). Parents may be able to mitigate some of the negative effects of discrimination through their ethnic-racial socialization practices (Bynum et al 2007; Dotterer et al 2009; White-Johnson et al 2010), which include discussions aimed at helping youth to negotiate a stigmatized identity. Guided by a risk and resilience framework, this paper considers how adolescents’ experiences with racial discrimination in school relate to their academic outcomes.

Methods

Results

Conclusion