Differences and similarities between ethnic–racial identity and critical consciousness links among diverse parents of color.

Abstract

Parents of color's critical consciousness development (understanding of and actions to redress societal inequalities) is an important yet understudied area, especially relative to the burgeoning literature on youth's critical consciousness development. As with youth of color, ethnic-racial identity, or the meaning and importance placed on one's ethnic-racial group membership, likely plays a notable yet complex role in parents' critical consciousness. Specifically, parents' participation in activities that engage them in the culture of their racial-ethnic group (exploration), the importance they place on race-ethnicity (centrality), and their perceptions of how society views their group (public regard) may each be differentially associated with understanding of inequalities (critical reflection), motivation toward ending inequalities (critical motivation), and the behaviors parents engage in to address inequalities (critical action). Further, it is possible that associations may vary across racial-ethnic groups given different sociocultural histories, experiences (including immigrant experiences), and positionality within the United States. In the present study, we employ multigroup structural equation modeling among a sample of 203 Black, 193 Asian American, and 188 Latinx parents (total N = 584, M age = 44.46, SD = 2.49, 59.6% mothers) of an adolescent child between the ages of 13 and 17 to examine associations between ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness across groups. Results indicate highly complex, group-specific relations between identity and critical consciousness: public regard was most consistently predictive of critical consciousness dimensions among Black parents. Exploration and centrality were most predictive among Asian American and Latinx parents, respectively. Implications for relations between ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness in light of different group experiences are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementBeliefs around the meaning and importance of one's race are not only paramount for the well-being of parents of color in the United States, but these beliefs and behaviors are also associated with parents' understanding of societal inequalities, as well as motivation and action toward making positive community and societal changes. The aspects of identity that are associated with these positive outcomes, however, differ meaningfully between Black, Asian American, and Latinx parents. Therefore, community organizers interested in fostering a sense of social responsibility and community activism among parents of color may benefit from providing targeted programming addressing different relevant aspects of identity for different groups. For instance, helping Black parents better understand how their racial group is viewed in society, providing Asian American parents additional opportunities This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual u...