How Social Group Membership Gets “Under the Skin”: Discrimination and Educational Inequities Jacquelynne Eccles LLAKES C

1. How Social Group Membership Gets “Under the Skin”:Discrimination and Educational InequitiesJacquelynne EcclesLLAKES ConferenceLondonJuly 5, 2010

2. Goals of my talk • Look at social group membership as a broader social context for development and identity formation • Discuss how membership in ascribed social groups such as gender, ethnicity, social class can influence • Both one’s experiences (Outside In) and • One’s Social and Personal Identities, which, in turn, can influence behavioral choices (Inside Out) • Present some empirical findings from our longitudinal study of African-American youth living near Washington DC as one example of such processes.

3. Outside InSocial Group Membership can affect the ways in which people respond to you • Differential treatment and provision of experiences (Ruble & Martin) • Experiences related to daily experiences of discrimination and racism (Essed; Feagin) • More pervasive structural forms of racism and inequality (McLoyd; Ogbu; Omi & Winant; Schoon)

4. Inside OutEthnicity Can Affect Self Processes • Stereotypes about future discrimination can lead to oppositional identity formation (Fordham & Ogbu) • Knowledge of stereotypes can lead to stereotype-threat effects (Steele & Aronson) • Incorporating stereotypes into one’s personal identity can lead to stereotypic perceptions of one’s skills and opportunities and stereotypic goals and aspirations (Ashmore; Crocker; Deaux; Eccles; Ruble)

5. Inside OutEthnicity and Social Identity Formation • Let me step back here and say a bit more about the distinction between personal and social identities.

6. What do I mean by the distinction between social (collective) and personal identities? • Social identity refers to that part of an individual's self‑concept that derives from his/her knowledge of and attitudes toward membership in a social group coupled with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership. • Social identities are that part of the collective self that defines the individual in terms of his/her shared similarities with members of certain social groups • Social identitiesserve the function of relatedness and membership.

7. What do I mean by the distinction between social (collective) and personal identities? • Social identities include those that are socially ascribed (race and gender) as well as those that emanate from group memberships of choice. • Different social identities may vary in salience in time and as a function of various social situations.

8. What do I mean by the distinction between social (collective) and personal identities? • Personal identityrefers to that part of an individual’s self-concept that makes a person feel unique. It is most similar to the type of identity Erikson was interested it. • I am most concerned with the content of both personal and social identities because these aspects of identities influence behavioral choices and engagement intensity.

9. How Might Social and Personal Identities Influence Behavioral Choices and Engagement Intensity? • Through Their Influence on Individuals’ • Expectancies/ Ability Self-Concepts (the ME selves) • Subjective Task Values linked to Goals, Aspirations, and Possible Selves

10. Expectations Personal Efficacy • Personal Identities • Self-concepts • Self-schema • Future possible • selves • Values • Goals, Aspirations Personal Experiences Subcultural Beliefs, Images, Stereotypes Behavior Patterns & Choices • Social Identities • Salience • Content • Perception of • barriers • and opportunities • linked to category • membership Societal Beliefs, Images, Ideology, Stereotypes Perceived Value of Specific Activities

11. "...in discussing identity ...we cannot separate personal growth and communal change, nor can we separate the identity crisis in individual life and contemporary crises in historical development because the two help to define each other and are truly relative to one another. In fact, the whole interplay between the psychological and the social, the developmental and the historical, for which identity formation is of prototypal significance, could be conceptualized as a kind of psychosocial relativity." (Erikson, Identity. Youth and Crisis, 1968; pg. 23)

12. "A child has many opportunities to identifyhimself, more or less experimentally, with real or fictitious people of either sex and with habits, traits, occupations, and ideas .... However, the historical era in which he lives offers only a limited number of socially meaningful models for workable combinations of identity fragments. Their usefulness depends on the way in which they simultaneously meet the requirements of the organism's maturational stage, the ego's style of synthesis, and the demands of the culture.“ (Erikson,1968, Identity, Youth and Crisis, pp 53‑54)

13. Inside OutEthnicity and Social Identity Formation • Ethnicity salience can lead to social identity formation (Aboud; Cross; McGuire; Phinney; Omi & Winant) • Social identities can influence goals and aspirations, as well as behavioral style and friendship networks, which, in turn can influence behavior (Eccles; Gurin; Fordham & Ogbu; Kao; Mickelson; O’Connor; Oyserman; Rotherman & Phinney; Spencer; Sellers; Taylor; Ruble) • Need to understand individual’s stereotypes of their own group • Need to understand the centrality of group membership to the individual’s core identities

14. Inside OutEthnicity and Social Identity Formation • Social identities can help adolescents make meaning of experiences of racism and discrimination (Cross; Deaux; Phelan; Sellers; Spencer) • Buffer or exacerbate the influences of stigmatizing social group related experiences • Oppositional Identity formation • Resistance at personal and/or social level

15. Expectations Personal Efficacy • Personal Identities • Self-concepts • Self-schema • Future possible • selves • Values • Goals, Aspirations Personal Experiences Subcultural Beliefs, Images, Stereotypes Behavior Patterns & Choices • Social Identities • Salience • Content • Perception of • barriers • and opportunities • linked to category • membership Societal Beliefs, Images, Ideology, Stereotypes Perceived Value of Specific Activities

16. Illustrate with one empirical example Experiences of Racism And How Such Experiences Can Help Us Understand Group Differences in School Achievement

17. Use This Approach to Understand Group Differences in Achievement or Life-Choices • African-American youth continue to do less well academically in school than European-American youth • High school grades • High school completion rates • Standardized test scores • College attendance rates

18. WHY? • Inequities in opportunities and barriers – • Institutional and structural racism • Differential face-to-face treatment - Racism

19. Jacquelynne Eccles, PI Arnold Sameroff, PI W. Todd Bartko Elaine Belansky Diane Early Kari Fraser Leslie Gutman Yael Harlap Katie Jodl Ariel Kalil Linda Kuhn Alice Michael Melanie Overby Stephen Peck Katherine Rosenblum Robert Roeser Sherri Steele Erika Taylor Cynthia Winston Carol Wong Contributors to the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (MADICS)

20. Funders • MacArthur Research Network on Successful Pathways Through Adolescence: • Chair Richard Jessor • NICHD • W.T. Grant • Spencer Foundation • University of Colorado • University of Michigan

21. Respondent characteristics: African-American N=625 Average age = 11 at Wave 1 Seventh grade at W 1 53 % male Data presented today were collected in Fall of 7th grade and Summer following 8th grade Family background: Median Family Income (1993): $50-55,000 Highest Education: 38% College Degree Highest Occupation: 44% Skilled 30% Professional Sample

22. Longitudinal Mixed Methods • Face-to-face, in home interviews with youth and their parents which included both close-ended and quite open-ended questions • Self-administered questionnaires with youth and their parents • Open-ended phone interviews with youth and their parents • Repeated intensive interviews with a subset of the youth

23. Data Collection • Fall of 7th Grade • Summer following 8th Grade • Fall and Winter of 11th Grade • Fall after 12th Grade • Three Years after High School

24. Two Types of Perceived Discrimination Future discrimination Day to Day experiences of discrimination

26. Day to Day Discrimination: Sample Items • How often do you … because of your race: • Get into fights with kids • Not get picked for certain school activities • How often does your teacher … because of your race: • Call on you • Grade you harder • Discourage you from taking certain classes • Think you are less smart.

27. Adolescents’ Race-Related Experiences in School Eighth Grade Call on You Grade You Harsher Think You Are Discourage Less Harder Discipline Less Smart From Taking Classes

30. Conclusion • Daily experiences of perceived racial discrimination appear to undermine many aspects of the healthy development of African American JHS youth. • In contrast, anticipated future racial discrimination has very little impact

31. Modeling Developmental Associations • Next we used SEM to model these effects on school achievement in a more theoretically driven manner • We included the perceived racial discrimination experienced by parents

32. Percent of Adolescents’ Parents Experiencing Racial Discrimination in Their Communities Black Black White White Males Females Males Females

33. Relation of Different Types of Racial Discrimination to African American Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and Achievement Youth Perception of Glass Ceiling .10* Youth Value of School -.31*** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Peers .09** -.25*** .09+ R2 = .31 Academic Achievement -.13** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Teachers -.04 .11* -.25*** R2 = .36 Youth Self-Concept of Ability Parent Perception of Discrimination at Work .22*** .11* -.11* R2 = .12 Parent Perception of Discrimination in Community

34. Relation of Different Types of Racial Discrimination to African American Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and Achievement Youth Perception of Glass Ceiling .10* Youth Value of School -.31*** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Peers .09** -.25*** .09+ R2 = .31 Academic Achievement -.13** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Teachers -.04 .11* -.25*** R2 = .36 Youth Self-Concept of Ability Parent Perception of Discrimination at Work .22*** .11* -.11* R2 = .12 Parent Perception of Discrimination in Community

35. Relation of Different Types of Racial Discrimination to African American Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and Achievement Youth Perception of Glass Ceiling .10* Youth Value of School -.31*** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Peers .09** -.25*** .09+ R2 = .31 Academic Achievement -.13** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Teachers -.04 .11* -.25*** R2 = .36 Youth Self-Concept of Ability Parent Perception of Discrimination at Work .22*** .11* -.11* R2 = .12 Parent Perception of Discrimination in Community

36. Effects of Different Types of Racial Discrimination on African American Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and Achievement Youth Perception of Glass Ceiling .10* Youth Value of School -.31*** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Peers .09** -.25*** .09+ R2 = .31 Academic Achievement -.13** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Teachers -.04 .11* -.25*** R2 = .36 Youth Self-Concept of Ability Parent Perception of Discrimination at Work .22*** .11* -.11* R2 = .12 Parent Perception of Discrimination in Community

37. Effects of Different Types of Racial Discrimination on African American Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and Achievement Youth Perception of Glass Ceiling .10* Youth Value of School -.31*** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Peers .09** -.25*** .09+ R2 = .31 Academic Achievement -.13** Youth Perception of Discrimination by Teachers -.04 .11* -.25*** R2 = .36 Youth Self-Concept of Ability Parent Perception of Discrimination at Work .22*** .11* -.11* R2 = .12 Parent Perception of Discrimination in Community

38. Thus, there is strong support for the undermining impact of daily experiences of discrimination in school on school achievement as well as on other indicators of healthy adolescent development.

39. Furthermore,these effects appear to influence academic achievement through their influence on the students’Ability Self ConceptsSubjective Task Values

40. We see the similar processes when we look at gender and its association with educational choicesalthough these are linked less to experiences of discrimination and more to experiences related to gender-role socialization

41. Predicting Number of Honors Math ClassesN = 223 (honors students) Self-Concept of Ability in Math (R² = .06) .15 Gender Number of Honors Math Courses (R² = .19) .12 Interest in Math (R² = .02) .14 .18 .13 .25 Math Aptitude Utility of Math (R² = .04) .14

42. Predicting # of Physics Classes

43. Thank youWeb Address:www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/garp