African-American identity and the psychological well-being of adolescents: A multidimensional approach.

Adolescence is the critical period for creating one's own identity (Erikson, 1968). For some African American adolescents, racial identity is one facet of identity that plays a critical role in their lives. The majority of the studies of African American identity measure its relation to self-esteem, with relative neglect of other aspects of psychological functioning and behavior. However, different dimensions of Black identity likely have different psychological correlates. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the differential relations between African American identity and adolescents' self-esteem, anger, depression and activity choice. As a part of a larger longitudinal study, the data were collected from 521 African American adolescents from economically diverse backgrounds. They completed a face-to-face interview and a self-administered questionnaire during the sixth and eight grade. Using Sellers Multidimesnional Model of Racial Identity (1996), the relation between three dimensions of Black Identity and adolescents' self-esteem, anger and depression was examined. The usefulness of Eccles (1983) Expectancy/Value Model of Behavioral choice in examining the association between Black identity and cultural activity choice was also investigated. The results indicated that different dimensions of Black identity have distinct psychological correlates. Dimensions of Black identity failed to predict changes in adolescents' self-esteem. The more positive adolescents' attitudes towards African Americans, the less their anger increased over time. Moreover, the more negatively adolescents believed others view African Americans, the more depression increased over time. The relation between adolescents' own attitudes towards African Americans and depression depended on how important being Black was to adolescents' self-concept. More specifically, for adolescents for whom being Black was important the more positive their attitudes of African Americans, the more their depression increased over time. The results also support the utility of the Expectancy/Value Model of Behavioral Choice (Eccles, 1983), for understanding the link between Black identity and cultural activity choice. The more important being Black was to adolescents' self-concept, the more frequently they participated in cultural activities. In addition, adolescents who participated in the Million Man March had more positive attitudes towards African Americans and being Black was more central to their self-concept compared to adolescents who did not participate.PhDBlack studiesClinical psychologyDevelopmental psychologyPsychologySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/130866/2/9811220.pd