Date of Award

2010

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

School of Education

Abstract

Research on racial ethnic socialization experiences among ethnically diverse youth from their perspective is limited. Additionally, little is known about the relationship between specific racial ethnic socialization messages and positive youth outcomes such as subjective well-being. This study sought to examine the prevalence of specific types of racial ethnic socialization messages in a group of ethnically diverse high school students. The study also examined the role of preparation for bias and cultural socialization messages on youth's ethnic identity development and private group esteem. The study also examined the mediating role of ethnic identity and self-esteem in the relationship between racial ethnic socialization messages and subjective well-being among ethnically diverse youth. Findings emerging from the study revealed that cultural socialization messages were more prevalent than preparation for bias messages and females reported receiving more cultural socialization messages than their male counterparts. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that cultural socialization in messages were particularly salient in youth's ethnic identity development and private group esteem. Mediation analyses revealed that ethnic identity completely mediated the relationship between racial ethnic socialization messages and satisfaction with life. Ethnic identity and self-esteem did not mediate the relationship between racial ethnic socialization messages and youth's positive and negative affect. A discussion of the results, limitations, and implications for future research are provided.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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