Studying Ethnic‐Racial Identity among White Youth: White Supremacy as a Developmental Context

Abstract

As developmental scholars increasingly study ethnic and racial identity among white youth, careful reflection is needed regarding its framing, implementation, and interpretation. In this three‐part conceptual paper, we offer a foundation for such reflection. First, we discuss the sociocultural context of white supremacy that shapes U.S. society, psychology, and adolescent development, and situate the study of ethnic and racial identity among white youth within this context. Second, we consider Janet Helms’s White Racial Identity Development model, reviewing theory and research building on her argument that race—and whiteness, specifically—must be centered to achieve racial justice‐oriented scholarship on white identity. We conclude by offering four guiding insights for conducting critical research on racial identity development among white youth.

Confronting Whiteness in Developmental Science: Disrupting the Intergenerational Transmission of White Racism

“…Problematizing White adolescents’ development in what typically assumes a neutral environment, the articles that comprise this special section answer calls to contextualize developmental science on White youth (e.g., Bigler et al., 2022; Hagerman, 2014; Seaton et al., 2018; Spencer, 2006). Moffitt and Rogers (2022) offer a conceptual articulation of White adolescents’ racial identity development in the context of White supremacy. Drawing from research in counseling psychology and education, they feature Janet Helms's (1990, 1995, 2020) White racial identity development model and distinguish it from the concept of ethnic‐racial identity that has been applied so effectively to youth of color (Umaña‐Taylor et al., 2014).…”

What's Whiteness Got to do With it?

“…Another publication assesses applications of critical race pedagogy among White educators (Salinas, 2022). One publication offers insights into White racial identity in the context of White supremacy (Moffitt & Rogers, 2022). A key strength of these publications is their utilization of observational, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed‐method techniques, given the emphasis on quantitative methods in developmental science.…”

Dismantling systems of racism and oppression during adolescence: An agenda for anti‐racist research

“…Explicitly, many branches of critical theories can help to situate adolescents' lived experiences within a particular group's unique history of oppression and recognize different intersecting oppressions that adolescents experience. A few papers in the special series invoked critical theories, including Critical Race Theory (CRT; Pasco et al, 2022), Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit; O'Donnell et al, 2022), Tribal Critical Race Theory (Uink et al, 2022), and critical whiteness (Moffitt & Rogers, 2022). Yet, our observation from editing the special series is that these critical perspectives are rarely explicitly embraced in the field of developmental science, so there is room for growth among adolescent developmental scholars to intentionally draw on these perspectives and enhance the field's focus on racism as a system.…”