African American Adolescents’ Discrimination Experiences and Academic Achievement: Racial Socialization as a Cultural Compensatory and Protective Factor

TLDR

Academic achievement among African American adolescents is shaped by motivation and developmental factors. The study examines how racial discrimination, parent race socialization, and academic achievement interrelate in 548 African American adolescents. Racial discrimination was linked to lower academic curiosity, persistence, and grades, while racial socialization messages predicted academic outcomes but did not buffer discrimination’s effects; instead, such messages may compensate for discrimination.

Abstract

This study examines the interrelationships among racial discrimination experiences, parent race socialization practices, and academic achievement outcomes in a sample of 548 African American adolescents. Adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences were associated with a decrease in academic curiosity, persistence, and student self-reported grades. Racial pride, self-worth, egalitarian, and negative messages and racial socialization behaviors emerged as unique predictors of various academic outcomes, but did not appear to modulate the impact of racial discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. The present findings provide preliminary evidence that parents’ messages to their children about race may compensate for or counteract racial discrimination, as opposed to moderating its influence on academic achievement outcomes. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of motivation and other key developmental factors that may influence academic achievement outcomes in African American adolescents.