NCJ Number
226602
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 500-518
Date Published
April 2009
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study compared the role of prejudice and ethnic awareness regarding civic commitments, and beliefs about the American social contract.
Abstract
Results indicate that regardless of ethnic background, adolescents were equally likely to endorse a belief in equal opportunity; however, significant differences by reports of prejudice with those who reported an instance were less likely to believe that American was an equal opportunity society. Adolescents’ patriotic commitments did not vary by ethnicity, by ethnic awareness, or by experiences of discrimination; however, age was a significant covariate with younger more likely than older adolescents to endorse patriotic goals. This study’s findings were consistent with previous research documenting the greater salience of ethnic identity for ethnic minorities; the three minority groups in this study were more likely than their European-American peers to report that they were very aware of their ethnic identity. However, the hypothesis that experiences of prejudice would be related to greater ethnic awareness received only partial support. African- and Arab-American adolescents were significantly more likely to report instances of prejudice than were Latino-and European-Americans; such experiences were not associated with greater ethnic awareness in the former two groups, but for Latino- and European-Americans there was a link between the two. There were no significant group differences in the parental admonitions against discrimination that adolescents reported; however, there were differences based on gender and age. Data were collected from 1,096 adolescents from 3 communities in the Midwest and Northeastern United States; samples included: 115 African-Americans, 115 Arab-Americans, 127 Latino-Americans, and 749 European-Americans. Tables and references