Anne Shorkey
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Deborah Rivas-Drake, Professor
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychology and Education, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 4 (2pm-2:50pm)
Breakout Room: Room 7
Presenter: 1
Abstract
In the present study, we looked at three components of ethnic-racial identity (centrality, resolution, and exploration) and their relationship with friend diversity for White adolescents. The sample was taken from two different schools (one in Arizona and one in Michigan) and focused on White adolescents ages 10-15. There were a total of 1238 participants, 51.3% Male and 48.4% Female. 25% were in 9th grade, 27.4% 10th, 24.6% 11th grade, 22.3% 12th grade. Past research has already shown that there is a connection between the diversity of the friend group and the resolution, exploration and centrality of one’s ethnic-racial identity. However, none of the past research focused on these aspects of ethnic-racial identity specifically for White adolescents. After running correlation analyses, we found that the diversity of a friend group has no correlation to the centrality, resolution, or exploration of White adolescents. This could be due to the fact that society often focuses on ethnic minorities, causing White adolescents to feel that their racial identity as important to explore. These findings could have also been affected by the relative diversity of the school as well. There is research that suggests that schools with lower numbers of same ethnic-racial peers will likely have students who feel a stronger connection to their identity as opposed to a school where one ethnic-racial identity is dominant. This research may contribute to programs in the future that work to increase awareness of one’s ethnic-racial identity and to bring students of different diversities closer together. Further research needs to be conducted to establish if this relationship is similar for other minority ethnic-racial groups in equally diverse schools.
Authors: Anne Shorkey, Deborah Rivas-Drake
Research Method: Data Collection and Analysis
