Ethnic-racial Identity Affirmation Research Articles

Mothers’ characteristics as predictors of adolescents’ ethnic–racial identity: An examination of Mexican-origin teen mothers.

The current longitudinal study examined Mexican-origin mothers' cultural characteristics and ethnic socialization efforts as predictors of their adolescent daughters' ethnic-racial identity (ERI) exploration, resolution, and affirmation. Participants were 193 Mexican-origin adolescent mothers (M age = 16.78 years; SD = .98) and their mothers (M age = 41.24 years; SD = 7.11). Findings indicated that mothers' familism values and ERI exploration were positively associated with mother-reported ethnic socialization efforts 1 year later. Furthermore, mothers' ERI affirmation was a significant positive predictor of adolescents' ERI affirmation 2 years later, accounting for adolescents' ERI affirmation 1 year earlier. Discussion emphasizes the significance of ERI development among adolescent mothers who are negotiating the normative development of ERI and faced with their new role as parents and cultural socializers of their young children. (PsycINFO Database Record

Trajectories of Ethnic-Racial Identity and Autonomy Among Mexican-Origin Adolescent Mothers in the United States.

This study examined trajectories of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) and autonomy development among Mexican-origin adolescent females in the United States (N = 181; M(age) at Wave 1 = 16.80 years, SD = 1.00) as they transitioned through the first 5 years of parenthood. Trajectories of ERI and autonomy also were examined in relation to psychosocial functioning. Unconditional latent growth models indicated significant growth in autonomy, ERI resolution, and ERI affirmation from middle to late adolescence. Conditional latent growth models indicated that autonomy and ERI exploration growth trajectories were positively associated with psychosocial adjustment. Although adolescent mothers are experiencing transitions that are not normative during adolescence, they also engage in normative developmental processes, and their engagement in such processes is linked with better adjustment.