Investigating Ethnic-Racial Identity Development in White U.S. American Adolescents: Identifying Common Constellations and Exploring Measurement

Abstract

White adolescents develop within a system that confers power and advantages related to their ethnoracial group membership and identity while simultaneously marginalizing and harming their peers of Color (Rogers et al., 2021; Satterthwaite-Freiman & Umaña-Taylor, 2023). Given the collective power of White communities within the U.S. as a result of these conferred advantages (Efird et al., 2024), these inequities will continue without sustained action on the part of White communities in partnership with communities of Color. Ethnic-racial identity (ERI), a multifaceted developmental competency comprised of process (i.e., exploration, resolution) and content (e.g., affect, centrality, public regard; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014) is especially relevant to understanding how White people make sense of their ethnic-racial group membership and how ERI development can foster anti-racist ideologies and action or, opposingly, encourage investment in the current oppressive system. Therefore, this dissertation applied prior ERI theory and empirical research with U.S. adolescents of Color as well as theory and empirical understanding of white identity development to White U.S. adolescents’ ERI development, centering White youths’ unique unjust positionality within the U.S. ethnoracial hierarchy. Paper 1 focused on a sample of 441 White adolescents (Mage = 16.0, SD = 0.88; 46% female-identified, 54% male-identified) attending two ethnoracially diverse public high schools in the U.S. Southwest and Midwest. This study used latent profile transition analysis to identify three profiles of ERI process and content across three time points (i.e., Early Closure & Untroubled, T1 n = 335, low exploration, high resolution, low negative affect, moderate centrality and public regard; Unexplored & Unsure, T1 n = 81, low exploration and resolution, moderate negative affect, centrality, and public regard; and High Negative Affect, T1 n = 25, low exploration and resolution, high negative affect, moderate centrality and public regard). Results emphasized the importance of ERI negative affect for distinguishing ERI development between White adolescents as well as for attitudes related to both approaching and avoiding peers of Color. Additionally, this study highlighted the importance of high resolution and low negative affect for positive psychological outcomes though also raised concerns regarding the long-term stability of the resolution reported by members of the Early Closure & Untroubled profile. Paper 2 utilized cognitive interviewing methods with a sample of 15 self-identified White high school students from a large metropolitan area to investigate their interpretations of the items from a commonly used measure of the ERI developmental processes of exploration and resolution in addition to the ERI content component of negative affect (i.e., the Ethnic Identity Scale – Brief; Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015). Findings affirmed the construct validity of utilizing the ERI Exploration and ERI Resolution subscales with White adolescent samples, though offered suggestions for additional measures and constructs to consider when measuring ERI exploration and resolution in White adolescents. Additionally, results provided evidence questioning the construct validity of the ERI Negative Affect subscale measuring ERI negative affect as operationalized by ERI theory in White adolescents. Further investigation and creation of a more precise ERI negative affect measure were discussed as potential solutions to more accurately measuring ERI negative affect in White adolescent samples.