Combatting risk with resilience: How bicultural socialization experiences of Black immigrant‐origin youth relates to well‐being

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) Vol. 96; no. 3; pp. 469 - 484
• Main Authors: Emuka, Christine, Karras, Juliana E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2024
• Subjects: Adolescent development; bicultural socialization; Black people; Diaspora; Ethnic identity; Grounded Theory; Immigrants; immigrant‐origin youth; Internal migration; Interpersonal Competence; Racial Discrimination; Racial Identification; Racial identity; Racial justice; Racism; Resilience; Risk; social competence; Social skills; Socialization; Stranger Reactions; Trauma; well‐being; Xenophobia; Youth; United States > US; social competence; immigrant‐origin youth; well‐being; bicultural socialization; resilience
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1002/jad.12236

Introduction Black immigrant‐origin (I‐O) youth's well‐being is at risk as the systemic mistreatment of Black people within the United States can be intensified by migration‐related experiences (e.g., isolationism, xenophobia). These experiences were heightened by the sociopolitical events of 2020 that increased the salience of racism and xenophobia. The current study centered how Black I‐O youth's negotiation of their bicultural socialization experiences impacted the ways in which they processed various social situations/contexts. Methods Grounded theory was used to conduct secondary analysis of a sub‐sample (n = 26) from qualitative interviews completed between 2020 and 2021 through The 2020 Study. Participants lived in the United States, identified as Black and I‐O as part of the global African Black Diaspora (Mage = 16.73, SD = 1.08), and as 80.77% female, 7.69% gender diverse, and 11.54% male. Results The increased salience of racial injustice throughout 2020 uniquely positioned youth's meaning‐making of their ethnic/racial identity. How youth reflected on their identity and related socialization experiences informed how they focused their attention and perceptions of socialization experiences. This connected to how youth demonstrated positive adaption (e.g., cultural pride) as forms of resilience against hyper‐visible anti‐Blackness throughout 2020. Youth's agentic participation aligned with indicators for positive youth development and well‐being. Conclusion By critically exploring the relationship between social competence, youth well‐being, and bicultural socialization among Black I‐O youth, the current study addressed a gap in the extant research regarding how affirming youth identity complexities can lead to building resilience to potential instances of risk (e.g., race‐based trauma, acculturative stress). Black I‐O youth ethnic‐racial identity development: Responses to experiences of heightened racism and xenophobia