Comparing relations of ethnic-racial public regard, centrality, and intergroup contact attitudes among ethno-racially diverse adolescents

The current cross-sectional study examined how adolescents’ appraisal of how positively others viewed their ethnic-racial group (i.e., public regard) and how integral their ethnic-racial background was to their self-concept (i.e., centrality) related to their intergroup contact approach and avoidanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGroup processes & intergroup relations Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 833 - 852
Main Authors Wantchekon, Kristia A., Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J., McDermott, Elana R., Sladek, Michael R., Rivas-Drake, Deborah, Agi, Abunya C., Satterthwaite-Freiman, Megan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.06.2022
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Adolescents
Approach-Avoidance
Attitudes
Black people
Black white relations
Cross-sectional studies
Ethnic groups
Ethnic relations
Ethnicity
Intergroup contact
Intergroup relations
Secondary school students
Secondary schools
Self concept
Social contact
Structural equation modeling
Student attitudes
Teenagers
intergroup contact
ethnic-racial identity
centrality
public regard
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Summary:The current cross-sectional study examined how adolescents’ appraisal of how positively others viewed their ethnic-racial group (i.e., public regard) and how integral their ethnic-racial background was to their self-concept (i.e., centrality) related to their intergroup contact approach and avoidance attitudes. Participants were Black, Latinx, and White high school students (N = 2,609; Mage = 16.39, SD = 1.16; 52% female) from the U.S. Southwest and Midwest. Utilizing multigroup structural equation modeling, results indicated that across all ethnic-racial backgrounds, and regardless of geographical context, public regard was positively associated with approach attitudes. Conversely, findings for avoidance attitudes varied by ethnic-racial background. Specifically, public regard was negatively associated with avoidance attitudes for White adolescents, whereas this relation was null for Black and Latinx adolescents. Additionally, although centrality was positively associated with avoidance attitudes among all adolescents, the relation was stronger among White adolescents than among Black and Latinx adolescents.
ISSN:1368-4302
1461-7188
DOI:10.1177/1368430220987599