The Role of Racial Socialization and Ethnocentrism in the Racial Identity Development of Second-Generation Black West Indian Americans

Scholars suggest Black West Indian Americans ’ ethnocentric attitudes toward Black Americans have notable effects on the racial socialization and identity of American-born West Indian children. This study explored the associations between racial socialization, ethnocentric attitudes, and racial identity for second-generation West Indian Americans in the United States. This unique study adds to the limited racial socialization-racial identity literature for this growing ethnic population. It is also the first study of its kind to explore whether ethnocentric attitudes mediate the relationship between racial socialization experiences and racial identity attitudes. Furthermore, this study adds to the movement towards better analytic practices of measuring racial identity attitudes through the use of strength of endorsement profile analysis. Participants in this study included 151 youth and young adults, who completed a survey including a Socio-Demographic Sheet, the Teenager Experiences of Racial Socialization Scale (Stevenson, Cameron, Herrero-Taylor & Davis, 2002), the Image Scale-modified (Smith, 1990), and the Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale-long for