This study uses two waves of data to examine the relations among racial discrimination experiences, patterns of racial socialization practices, and psychological adjustment in a sample of 361 African American adolescents. Using latent class analyses, we identified four patterns of child‐reported racial socialization experiences: Moderate Positive, High Positive, Low Frequency, and Moderate Negative. Experiencing racial discrimination was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, more perceived stress, and lower levels of well‐being. On average, adolescents who experienced High Positive patterns of racial socialization reported the most positive psychological adjustment outcomes, while adolescents in the Low Frequency and Moderate Negative clusters reported the least favorable outcomes. Results suggest that High Positive racial socialization buffers the negative effects of racial discrimination on adolescents' perceived stress and problem behaviors. Together, the findings suggest that various patterns of racial socialization practices serve as risk, compensatory, and protective factors in African American adolescent psychological adjustment.

This study uses two waves of data to examine the relationships among patterns of racial socialization experiences and racial identity in a sample of 358 African American adolescents (60% female and 40% male). Using latent class analyses, we identified three patterns of adolescent-reported racial socialization experiences: High Positive, Moderate Positive, and Low Frequency. Adolescent-reported racial socialization experiences at Wave 1 were associated with Wave 2 adolescent racial identity approximately one year later. Specifically, High Positive and Low Frequency racial socialization were associated with racial centrality, assimilationist ideology, and nationalist ideology. These findings suggest that various patterns of racial socialization practices play an important role in the developing significance and meaning that African American adolescents ascribe to race.

The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-teen (MIBI-t) is designed to assess the three crosssituationally stable dimensions (Centrality, Regard, and Ideology) of the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI; Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998) within teenagers. Adolescent responses (N = 489) to the MIBI-t were subjected to several analyses to evaluate the psychometric character of the measure. Findings indicated that the MIBI-t represents a valid framework for African American adolescents, that its internal structure is consistent with the conceptual framework of the MMRI, and support its construct validity. Findings also indicate model invariance across grade level and gender, as well as suggest evidence of predictive validity. Further information about the MIBI-t and the full set of items are presented. KeywordsRacial Identity; Ethnic Identity; Measurement Identity Development African American; Black; SelfConcept An increasing body of psychological literature has focused on how African Americans define what their racial group membership means to them (Burlew, Bellow, & Lovett, 2000;Cross, 1971Cross, , 1991Cross, Parham, & Helms, 1998;Helms, 1990;Milliones, 1976Milliones, , 1980Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). Several models and measures of racial identity within African Americans have been proposed (e. g., Cross, 1971Cross, , 1991Parham & Helms, 1981;. However, their general focus has been on two periods of the life course, childhood and emerging adulthood, overlooking, for the most part, the developmental periods of early and middle adolescence (Phinney, 1990). Consequently, theoretical conceptualizations of African American racial identity during early and middle adolescence as well as empirical tools for assessing African American racial identity during these developmental periods are rare. To address this oversight, the current study presents a new measure of racial identity specifically for African American adolescents: The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-teen (MIBI-t). This measure consists of 7 subscales representing the three cross-situationally stable dimensions (Centrality, Regard, and Correspondence should be addressed to Krista Scottham, Department of Psychology, Pettingill Hall, Bates College, Lewiston, ME, 04240. Please send all correspondence to the first author via phone at (207) 786-6088, or kscottha@bates.edu. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptIdeology) of the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI; . Information supporting the reliability and validity of this new measure is presented. The Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI)The MMRI is grounded in identity theory (Stryker, 1987), which argues that each individual has a number of hierarchically ordered identities (e. g., racial, gendered, and vocational), and that within this hierarchy one identity can be more important to an individual than another. Building on this, the MMRI asserts that the d...

The relationships between faith affiliation, religiosity, and altruistic behaviors remain debated in the literature. As a recent example of such debates, Decety et al. (2015) published an article suggesting that children from Christian and Muslim households may be less altruistic than children from non-religious homes. Using experimental data collected from 1,151 children between the ages of five and 12 attending schools in Amman (Jordan), Cape Town (South Africa), Chicago (United States), Guangzhou (China), Istanbul and Izmir (Turkey), and Toronto (Canada), Decety et al. concluded that (1) Children in families that identify as religious had on average less altruistic behaviors; (2) Family religiousness was associated with parents self-reporting that their children were more sensitive to injustices and had empathy towards others; but in the experiment (3) Children from religious households were actually harsher in their punitive tendencies. These results were however challenged in a subsequent communication published by Shariff et al. (2016) in the same journal. When controls were included in the regression analysis for crosscountry variations in altruistic behavior, the results pertaining to the effect of religion and religiosity did not hold anymore. Apart from being a cautionary tale about how empirical results may be sensitive to the specification used by authors, this episode suggests that even though much of the literature seems to point to a positive relationship between religiosity and altruistic behaviors (see for example Wodon 2015, in the case of faith-based service delivery in education and health in Africa), there is no universal consensus on the matter, and the matter is complex. The literature is complex in part because the factors leading to altruistic behaviors are themselves complex, calling for a variety of approaches and data to explore those relationships. Evidence on the relationship between religiosity and altruistic behaviors can be collected in many different ways. The paper by Decety et al. (2015) and the comment by Shariff et al. (2016) relied on experimental data. These analyses remain the exception rather than the rule, with much of the literature still based on non-experimental data despite the limits of such datasets (Sablosky 2014). In general, as already mentioned, the literature seems to suggest that religiosity is often associated with altruistic behaviors. Examples based on data from the United States help illustrate this finding. Forbes and Zampelli (2014) find that greater intensity of religious belief is associated with more volunteerism. Kim et al. (2016) look at how trajectories of religious attendance relate to volunteering over a 15-year period. They find a positive association between rates of change in religious attendance and volunteering, as well as higher increases in volunteering over time for individuals with higher initial levels of religious attendance. Another interesting paper by Hill and den Dulk (2013) considers how the type of secondary school attended may ...

The current study examined patterns of Black adolescent boys' socioemotional competence (SEC) in the midst of racial (in)congruence of their neighborhood and school contexts and the associations of these patterns with selfand teacher-reported social adjustment. Data collected from 417 Black adolescent boys in 7th-11th grade were analyzed using a multilevel class analysis to derive studentlevel classes of SEC and neighborhood racial composition and school-level classes of school racial composition. Class associations with social adjustment were examined via analysis of variance and analysis of covariance among a subsample of 258 Black males. Four patterns of SEC-neighborhood racial composition and two patterns of school racial composition were identified; the former were associated with self-and teacher-reported social adjustment. Interactive patterns of SEC-neighborhood racial composition classes and school racial composition classes were associated with teachers' reports of negative social adjustment. Study findings suggest that considering SEC within racialized contexts is important for understanding Black adolescent boys' adjustment.