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. 2022 Apr;51(4):599-613.
doi: 10.1007/s10964-022-01570-z. Epub 2022 Jan 27.

Psychological Resources as a Buffer Between Racial/Ethnic and SES-based Discrimination and Adolescents' Academic Well-being

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Psychological Resources as a Buffer Between Racial/Ethnic and SES-based Discrimination and Adolescents' Academic Well-being

Celeste C Fernandez et al. J Youth Adolesc. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

While the detrimental consequences of racial/ethnic discrimination for adolescent well-being are well-established, less is known about the impact of SES-based discrimination and the potential protective benefits of adolescents' intraindividual assets. The current study addressed these gaps by investigating the longitudinal associations between racial/ethnic and SES-based educator-perpetrated discrimination and adolescents' academic well-being and assessed whether psychological resources moderated these pathways. To do so, the study used longitudinal data from a diverse sample of 750 9th grade students (54% female; 41% White, 34% Latina/o/x, 8% Asian American, 6% African American, 11% biracial/other race/ethnicity; 43% had parents with an associate's degree or less) in the Southwestern U.S. who were subsequently surveyed one year later. Educator-perpetrated racial/ethnic discrimination was negatively associated with students' school engagement, and both psychological resilience and self-efficacy emerged as protective for students' educational expectations in the face of racial/ethnic and SES-based discrimination, respectively. The results of the current study highlight the role of discriminatory treatment in educational disparities and provide insights on effective coping strategies to combat the negative impacts of discrimination in academics.

Keywords: Academic well-being; Adolescence; Discrimination; Psychological resources.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The moderating role of psychological resilience on the link between educator-perpetrated racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The moderating role of self-efficacy on the link between educator-perpetrated SES-based discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The moderating role of shift-and-persist on the link between educator-perpetrated SES-based discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The moderating role of psychological resilience on the link between educator-perpetrated racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescents’ educational expectations’

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