Jan 10, 2011 - provided examples of discrimination (Eccles, Wong, & Peck,. 2006; Fisher et ... et al., 1999; Sellers et al., 1998), and (c) salience of the group across situations .... Many of these examples included references to Martin Luther.
Developmental Psychology 2011, Vol. 47, No. 2, 463– 471
© 2011 American Psychological Association 0012-1649/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021819
BRIEF REPORT
Ethnicity and Gender in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence: Group Identity and Awareness of Bias Christia Spears Brown
Basirat O. Alabi, Virginia W. Huynh, and Carrie L. Masten
University of Kentucky
University of California, Los Angeles The current study examined awareness of gender and ethnic bias and gender and ethnic identity in 350 African American, White/European American, and Latino/Hispanic students (Mage ⫽ 11.21 years, SD ⫽ 1.59) from the 4th, 6th, and 8th grades of diverse middle and elementary schools. The study collected (a) qualitative data to best capture the types of bias that were most salient to children and (b) daily diaries and individual measures to examine the multiple components of children’s gender and ethnic identities. Results revealed ethnic, gender, and grade-level differences in awareness of ethnic and gender bias. Overall, more children were aware of gender bias than ethnic bias. This effect was most pronounced among White/European American youths. Among those in 4th grade, African American and Latino youths were more likely to be aware of ethnic bias than were White/European American youths. Analyses also examined how awareness of bias was related to gender and ethnic identity. For example, children who had a salient and important gender identity, and a devalued ethnic identity, were less likely than other children to be aware of ethnic bias. Keywords: gender identity, ethnic identity, discrimination
Ruble, 1987) and because their social categories are beginning to be incorporated into their self-concept (Ruble et al., 2004). Further, because of these children’s newly acquired social– cognitive skills, this is the period in which social identity can have important repercussions on peer and intergroup attitudes (Nesdale, 2004).
Gender and ethnic groups are typically considered the two types of social groups that are most meaningful to individuals (Akiba, Szalacha, & Garcı´a Coll, 2004; Ruble et al., 2004; Tatum, 1997), and as such, they have been the focus of much developmental research (see e.g., Bennett & Sani, 2003; Bigler & Liben, 1993; DuBois, Burk-Braxton, Swenson, Tevendale, & Hardesty, 2002; Katz & Kofkin, 1997; Martin & Ruble, 2004). The current study examines two concepts associated with ethnic and gender groups—awareness of ethnic and gender bias and awareness of ethnic and gender identity—and the interrelationships between them. The current study focuses on children in late childhood and early adolescence because children at this age understand the stable, constant nature of gender and ethnicity (see e.g., Aboud &
Awareness of Group Bias One aspect of belonging to a gender and ethnic group is that some gender and ethnic groups are stigmatized and stereotyped in certain domains, which can lead to differential treatment or discrimination. Perceiving discrimination has been associated with lower self-esteem, academic motivation, and achievement, as well as increased racial mistrust, problem behaviors, anger, and depressive symptoms (Albertini, 2004; Bowman & Howard, 1985; DuBois et al., 2002; Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; Huynh & Fuligni, in press; Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003). Research has also suggested that perceptions of education-based discrimination could ultimately lead to disidentification with academics (Ogbu, 1990; Steele, 1997). In general, research on children’s perceptions of bias or discrimination is rather sparse (Brown & Bigler, 2005) and has typically focused on adolescents’ perceptions of ethnic discrimination. This work shows that, by early adolescence, a majority of ethnic minority adolescents (usually Latino and African American students) experience discrimination at school and among peers (see e.g., Fisher et al., 2000; Quintana, 1998; Rosenbloom & Way, 2004; Ruck & Wortley, 2002; Wong et al., 2003). Verbal insults and racial slurs are reported as the most commonly experienced discriminatory behaviors (Simons et al., 2002). Many children re-
This article was published Online First January 10, 2011. Christia Spears Brown, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky; Basirat O. Alabi, Virginia W. Huynh, and Carrie L. Masten, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles. Excluding Christia Spears Brown, all authors appear alphabetically. The authors thank Agnieszka Spatzier for coordinating and managing the study. We also thank Jennifer Chaquinga Holman, Hui Chu, Salvador Vasquez, Mollie Tobin, Juana Gatson, Hweei Chi Lim, Jennifer Ly, Hannah Tuller, Jenna Chin, Lara Duran, Tess Chao, Josue Osegueda, and the many undergraduate research assistants who helped in data collection and entry. Finally, we thank the teachers, principals, and children of the Greater Los Angeles area. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christia Spears Brown, Department of Psychology, 207-E Kastle Hall, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044. E-mail: christia.brown@ uky.edu 463
BRIEF REPORT
464
ported being suspected of wrongdoing or being excluded from activities because of their race, and a small number of children reported being threatened with physical harm (Simons et al., 2002). African American and Latino adolescents also report being graded unfairly, discouraged from joining advanced level classes, and disciplined wrongly by their teachers because of their ethnicity, and they often perceive themselves to have been discriminated against in public settings (e.g., being hassled by store clerks and receiving poor service at restaurants; Fisher et al., 2000). Research on experiences with gender discrimination is extremely sparse. A few studies have examined adolescent girls’ experiences with sexual harassment. One study found that 90% of girls had experienced sexual harassment at least once (Leaper & Brown, 2008), and these experiences of discrimination seem to increase across adolescence (McMaster, Connolly, Pepler, & Craig, 2002; Pepler et al., 2006). Only one known study (Leaper & Brown, 2008) has examined girls’ experiences with other forms of gender bias and found that 75% of adolescent girls heard negative comments about their athletic abilities and 50% heard negative comments about their abilities in math, science, and computers. Although important work, almost all of these studies have examined the frequency of experiences with experimenterprovided examples of discrimination (Eccles, Wong, & Peck, 2006; Fisher et al., 2000; Leaper & Brown, 2008). It is unclear which instances of discrimination are most obvious, salient, and important to children, limiting our understanding of children’s awareness of discrimination. In addition, no research has examined children’s awareness of both gender and ethnic bias. It is likely that children can be aware of one type of bias and unaware of another type of bias, particularly if only one of their social groups is stigmatized (e.g., European American girls may be aware of gender bias but not ethnic bias). Thus, the first goal of the current study was to examine children’s awareness of gender and ethnic bias. To accomplish this, we collected qualitative data to best capture the types of bias that were most salient to children (i.e., not based on researchers’ preconceived examples).
Turner & Brown, 2007). Research on gender identity has also shown that individuals differ in how typical they feel for their gender group and how much pressure they feel to conform to gender norms (Egan & Perry, 2001). Research with adults and older youths has shown that group identities are associated with perceptions of bias. Specifically, ethnic minority individuals with a salient or central ethnic identity often perceive more ethnic discrimination than do those without a salient ethnic identity (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999; Crocker & Major, 1989; Operario & Fiske, 2001; Sellers, Caldwell, Scmeelk-Cone, & Zimmerman, 2003). The relationship is likely bidirectional, because perceiving discrimination may lead to an increase in the salience of one’s ethnic or gender identity (see e.g., Phinney & Tarver, 1988). Research on gender identity and gender bias has similarly shown that adolescent girls with a strong feminist identity perceive more gender discrimination than do girls with a less-developed feminist identity (Leaper & Brown, 2008). Given this complexity, it is likely that group identities begin to form before adolescence (see e.g., Phinney & Tarver, 1988). Unfortunately, little research has examined burgeoning group identities and the link with awareness of bias among children in late childhood. Developmental models suggest that children’s perceptions of bias and group identities are related to one another as early as late childhood, but these issues have not been empirically examined (Brown & Bigler, 2005). In addition, most research examines gender identity or ethnic identity in isolation from the other— despite individuals’ being members of gender and ethnic groups simultaneously. Thus, the secondary goal of the current study was to assess how gender and ethnic identities were related to one another and to awareness of bias. To assess gender and ethnic identity in multiple ways, we collected data from daily diaries kept over a period of 5 days as well as an individual interview at the end of the 5-day period.
Method Participants
Group Identity and Its Relationship With Awareness of Bias Although experiencing bias can be a negative consequence of belonging to a gender or ethnic group, a positive consequence of social groups is that they allow for the development of a group identity. The establishment of a group identity is an important developmental milestone for adolescents and is an important component of adolescents’ developing self-concept (Erikson, 1968; Phinney, 1990, 1996; Quintana, 2007). In addition, strong, positive group identities have been positively associated with higher selfesteem, optimism, positive academic performance, and a sense of mastery (Chavous et al., 2003; Eccles et al., 2006) and negatively associated with loneliness and depression (Roberts et al., 1999). The gender and ethnic identities of adolescents and adults have been shown to be complex— differing across individuals in terms of the (a) importance of the group to the sense of self (known as centrality; Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998), (b) degree of positive affect associated with the group identity (Egan & Perry, 2001; Gurin & Townsend, 1986; Phinney, 1992; Roberts et al., 1999; Sellers et al., 1998), and (c) salience of the group across situations and social contexts (Shelton & Sellers, 2000;
Participants were 350 students (Mage ⫽ 11.21 years, SD ⫽ 1.59) from three middle schools (n ⫽ 76 eighth graders, 165 sixth graders) and three elementary schools (n ⫽ 109 fourth graders) in Southern California. A total of 27 classrooms were recruited. From school records and self-reports on consent forms, 67 students were identified as African American, 120 as White/European American, and 163 as Latino/Hispanic. Slightly more than half were girls (59%). Participants were recruited from schools that captured a range of school contexts: one middle school and one elementary school that were predominantly European American, one middle school and one elementary school that were predominantly Latino and African American, and one middle school and one elementary school that were racially/ethnically heterogeneous. Ethnic/racial composition was confounded with socioeconomic status: 12% of students at the predominantly European American schools, 68% of students at the predominantly Latino and African American schools, and 48% of students at the heterogeneous schools participated in a free or reduced-price lunch program. Trained research assistants first described the study and provided bilingual English/Spanish parental consent forms to students. Only students with signed parental consent forms, and who
BRIEF REPORT
completed their own assent forms, participated. After debriefing, participants were given a movie theater gift certificate.
Procedures and Measures Daily diary measures. Because identity salience (as conceptualized by Sellers et al., 1998, and Shelton & Sellers, 2000) is by definition variable across situations, diary measures were collected to capture any identity variability that might have existed. Each participant received a diary that was specific to that child’s gender and ethnicity on the basis of information collected during the assent process (and that each child agreed was correct). Research assistants helped participants complete the following two measures in their classrooms at the end of each school day for 5 days. Daily identity centrality. The centrality of gender and ethnicity, relative to other aspects of identity, was assessed by having children rank a series of eight self-descriptors (e.g., fourth grader, member of my family, student, girl, Latina) in the order that the identity was most important to them. This approach has been previously used to assess identity centrality (e.g., Alvarez, Cameron, Garfinkle, Ruble, & Fuligni, 2001). Children received a gender and ethnicity score, and scores ranged from 1 (ranked as the most important self-descriptor) to 8 (ranked as the least important self-descriptor). Because there was little daily variability, children’s responses across the week were averaged together for mean ethnic identity centrality (M ⫽ 4.46, SD ⫽ 1.71) and mean gender identity centrality (M ⫽ 3.71, SD ⫽ 1.58). Daily identity salience. Whether children’s identities were salient throughout the day was assessed by prompting children to think about each period of their school day (i.e., each academic class, lunch, recess) and to write in their daily diaries what happened during that period. This aided recall by prompting children to think about the concrete activities they performed throughout the day. Children then indicated whether they thought about their gender, their ethnicity, or neither during that period. Whether gender or ethnicity was mentioned as salient each day was calculated across the week. The resulting dichotomous score indicated that 51% of children mentioned ethnicity and 63% of children mentioned gender as salient at least once during the week. Individual interview measures. After the week of keeping a daily diary, children completed the following measures, individually read to them by a same-ethnicity, same-gender experimenter, for approximately 45 min in a quiet place in the school. Ethnic identity. Children’s ethnic identity was assessed by having them complete a version of an ethnic identity measure developed by Pfeifer et al. (2007), which is similar in content to the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992) but appropriate for younger children. Children were presented with five items consisting of two opposing sentences and were asked to choose the sentence they most identified with (an approach based on a format developed by Harter, 1982). They were then asked whether the sentence that they most identified with was “very true for me” or “sort of true for me.” Items assessed the positive affect associated with their ethnicity (e.g., “Some kids are happy that they are [ethnicity] BUT Other kids are not happy that they are [ethnicity]”) and the importance of their ethnic group to their self-concept (e.g., “Some kids feel that being [ethnicity] is not an important part of themselves BUT Other kids feel that being [ethnicity] is an important part of themselves”). Scores ranged
465
from 1 to 4, and after appropriate reverse-coding, higher scores indicated a more positive and important sense of ethnic identity (M ⫽ 3.31, SD ⫽ 0.61). The Cronbach alpha coefficient was .72. Gender identity. Children completed a measure developed by Egan and Perry (2001) and revised by Carver, Yunger, and Perry (2003) that assesses the degree to which children feel (a) content as a member of their gender group (6 items), (b) typical for their gender (6 items), and (c) pressured to be a stereotypical member of their gender group (14 items). Children indicated how much each statement described them, using a scale ranging from 1 (not at all true for me) to 4 (very true for me). Higher scores indicated more contentedness with one’s gender (M ⫽ 2.69, SD ⫽ 0.72), more felt gender typicality (M ⫽ 2.69, SD ⫽ 0.71), and more felt pressure to be typical (M ⫽ 2.29, SD ⫽ 0.69). The three subscales had adequate Cronbach alpha coefficients (.76, .71, .76, respectively). Awareness of ethnic and gender bias. To determine whether participants ever noticed people in their ethnic group being treated unfairly, we asked them the following: “Sometimes kids get treated differently than other kids because of their skin color. Have you ever noticed this? Like when?” This wording was selected because children often refer to their ethnicity on the basis of skin color (Ramsey, 1987). Participants were also asked this question about noticing unfair treatment on the basis of gender: “Sometimes girls and boys get treated differently from each other. Have you ever noticed this? Like when?” Participants were considered aware of bias if they could successfully provide an example of bias that (a) mentioned some type of differential treatment or attitude that was based solely on ethnicity, race, cultural/language background, or gender and (b) reflected the child’s sense of unfairness rather than simple separation into groups (e.g., stating that boys and girls use different bathrooms would not be considered an example of bias). On the basis of responses, the following four categories of children were created to represent psychologically meaningful distinctions: (a) those not aware of bias, for students who either stated that they did not know or gave examples that either were overly vague (e.g., “on the streets”) or did not suggest differential treatment or attitudes (e.g., “When play with whole class some kids say their skin is not like our skin”); (b) those generally aware of bias, which included youths who either indicated a general awareness of bias (e.g., “They might be treated different because the people around them could be racist”) or gave historical or fictional examples of bias from film or literature; (c) those who were a witness to bias; and (d) those who had been the target of bias. Cohen’s kappa was .85 ( p ⬍ .05) for ethnic bias and .95 ( p ⬍ .05) for gender bias.
Results Awareness of Bias Awareness of ethnic bias: Qualitative analysis. Overall, 51% of participants (n ⫽ 179) gave an example of ethnic bias (thus, 49% were unaware of bias). Tests of association indicated that youths’ awareness of bias differed by ethnicity and grade level (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 7.02, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .01). Among fourth graders, 73% of European American participants were unaware of ethnic bias, compared with 43% of Latino and 53% of African American participants. There were no differences among sixth or eighth graders or across gender (see Table 1).
BRIEF REPORT
466
Table 1 Number (and Percentage) of Students Aware of Ethnic Bias by Ethnic Group, Gender, and Grade Level Variable African American Girls 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Boys 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade European American Girls 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Boys 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Latino Girls 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Boys 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade
Not aware
Generally aware
Witnessed
Targeted
6 (55) 8 (44) 6 (46)
1 (9) 3 (17) 2 (15)
3 (27) 4 (22) 4 (31)
1 (9) 3 (17) 1 (8)
4 (50) 6 (55) 4 (67)
0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
3 (38) 5 (46) 2 (33)
1 (13) 0 (0) 0 (0)
16 (67) 15 (46) 8 (53)
4 (17) 7 (21) 2 (13)
4 (17) 11 (33) 5 (33)
0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
14 (82) 9 (41) 4 (44)
2 (12) 3 (14) 1 (11)
1 (6) 9 (41) 2 (22)
0 (0) 1 (5) 2 (22)
16 (53) 21 (46) 9 (41)
4 (13) 5 (11) 2 (9)
9 (30) 16 (35) 9 (41)
1 (3) 4 (9) 2 (9)
5 (26) 13 (37) 7 (64)
8 (23) 1 (11) 0 (0)
13 (37) 2 (22) 3 (27)
1 (3) 2 (22) 1 (9)
General awareness of bias. Of the examples of ethnic bias, 29% (n ⫽ 52) reflected the participant being generally aware of bias. Some examples involved a general awareness of distrustful and discriminatory encounters in the community. An African American girl said, “If a Mexican or Black step into a certain store, they watch them carefully just because. Is it because they are Black or Mexican or is it because they are trying to be a good business person?” A Latina girl said, “Sometimes at jobs you apply for you are rejected because they are discriminating.” Other examples involved historical or fictional examples from movies or books. Many of these examples included references to Martin Luther King or segregation, such as “long ago there was a separation of Black children/people and White people while at school and while eating at restaurants and buses and other places.” One example of bias from a fictional account was, “In the movie ‘Bend It Like Beckham,’ a girl on the opposite team called the Indian girl a bad name.” Witness of bias. Of the examples of ethnic bias, 61% (n ⫽ 109) reflected the participant witnessing an instance of ethnic bias. Importantly, European American children were not perceived as the sole perpetrators of bias, and ethnic minority youths were not always the targets. Many examples of witnessed bias involved exclusion from play because of ethnicity. For example, one African American boy said, “When we play basketball people don’t like picking the White people.” Other examples of bias that were witnessed involved verbal harassment and name calling. For example, youths reported, “Sometimes at school people get called negros and wetbacks,” and
“They were calling this black girl names and said that she did not mean a lot because of her skin color.” Name calling by adults was also witnessed. A European American girl reported that her dad “makes fun of the Black people on our softball team,” and a Latina noted that her uncle “called the neighbor ugly because he was Black.” Though less frequent, some youths witnessed children physically fighting each other because of race or ethnicity. One Latina girl reported, “People in the playground fight each other because of their ethnicity.” Target of bias. Of the examples of ethnic bias, only 10% (n ⫽ 18) reflected the participant being the target of bias. African American and Latino youths in our sample reported experiencing bias in stores and businesses. For instance, one Latina girl noted, “When you go somewhere, like a restaurant, I sat down and waited to be asked [and] then a family came in [and] they attended their children instantly, because they were White.” An African American girl noted, “When I was at the store this guy took the people in front of us and they were White [and] when it came to us he refused to ring us up so we had to go to a different check stand.” In these examples, European Americans seem to be the preferred customers. Latino youths mentioned being teased or harassed because of their ethnicity. One Latino boy said, “They call me lots of names because I am Mexican.” Another Latino boy stated, “In PE class, a lot of kids call me a beaner.” Sometimes youths mentioned bias directed at their ethnic identity. One girl described an experience in Mexico, saying, “I told them about my Jewish, Black, Asian and White friends and [they] started making fun. They called me wanna be Mexican. [They] question my culture, heritage.” Awareness of gender bias: Qualitative analysis. Overall, 76% of participants (n ⫽ 265) gave an example of gender bias (with 24% unaware). Tests of association indicated that youths’ awareness of bias differed by gender and grade level (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 3.13, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .05). Among sixth graders, 25% of girls reported being the target of gender bias, compared with 12% of boys. In contrast, 33% of boys were unaware of gender bias, compared with 16% of girls. There were no differences in responses for fourth or eighth graders or across ethnicity (see Table 2). General awareness of bias. Of the examples of gender bias, 30% (n ⫽ 79) reflected the participant being generally aware of bias. Most examples referred to sports, school, or home life. For example, regarding bias in sports, girls mentioned differential treatment by boys and teachers, such as “When girls want to play basketball no one wants to pick them because they are girls” and “Many times in sports girls usually bat less and are often ignored.” Another girl mentioned that “boys get to play the tougher sports like football and girls can’t.” Boys also mentioned sports-based biases, such as “Sometimes they think boys are stronger than girls so in PE the minimum pushups for girls was like 5 and the minimum for boys was like 8.” Whereas girls most often mentioned sports-based bias, boys often mentioned gender bias by teachers. One boy noted, “Teachers trust girls more than boys.” This was echoed by another boy, who stated, “Some teachers automatically think girls are smarter than boys and are more mature.” Finally, youths mentioned gender bias in home life. For example, one girl stated, “Most girls have to do most of the chores around the house.”
BRIEF REPORT
Variable African American Girls 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Boys 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade European American Girls 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Boys 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Latino Girls 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade Boys 4th grade 6th grade 8th grade
Not aware
Generally aware
Witnessed
Was a target
3 (27) 5 (28) 3 (23)
3 (27) 2 (11) 3 (23)
5 (46) 9 (50) 2 (15)
0 (0) 2 (11) 5 (39)
3 (38) 5 (46) 2 (33)
2 (25) 1 (9) 2 (33)
3 (38) 3 (27) 1 (17)
0 (0) 2 (18) 1 (17)
2 (8) 3 (9) 2 (13)
6 (25) 5 (15) 6 (40)
11 (46) 14 (42) 6 (40)
5 (21) 11 (33) 1 (7)
4 (24) 8 (36) 3 (33)
3 (18) 7 (32) 3 (33)
6 (35) 6 (27) 3 (33)
4 (24) 1 (5) 0 (0)
15 (50) 7 (15) 5 (23)
3 (10) 18 (39) 5 (23)
6 (20) 9 (20) 6 (27)
6 (20) 12 (26) 6 (27)
3 (16) 3 (27) 7 (64)
4 (21) 2 (18) 0 (0)
5 (26) 3 (27) 3 (27)
7 (37) 3 (27) 1 (9)
Witness of bias. Of the examples of gender bias, 43% (n ⫽ 114) reflected the participant witnessing an instance of bias. As with the more general examples mentioned earlier, many examples given by boys reflected preferential treatment by teachers. Boys often noted that teachers were more lenient toward girls. For example, “My friend in middle school, the girl pulled down a boy’s pants and she didn’t get in trouble. If the boy did it, he would get in trouble.” The examples often suggest that youths perceive teachers to trust girls more than boys. For example, “Our PE teacher always has a girl do something - never a boy,” and “My teacher in fourth grade did not trust the boys.” Sports was again a domain in which youths witnessed gender bias. For instance, one boy noted, “My teacher in elementary school wouldn’t let girls play dodgeball because they would get hit and cry.” A girl mentioned, “My friend was not allowed to play football just because she was a girl.” Other examples reflected witnessing bias between brothers and sisters at home. One boy stated, “My brothers get to go somewhere [and] they come late and don’t get punished but when my sister comes late, she gets punished.” Target of bias. Of the examples of gender bias, 27% (n ⫽ 72) reflected the participant’s being the target of bias. For girls, they were often the target of bias in sports. Girls often talked about how boys would not let them play certain sports, for example, “When we were playing flag football, my friend and I both wanted to play but only guys were playing. They didn’t want us to play until we each scored 2 touchdowns.” In contrast, boys often noted that teachers were more lenient toward girls, for example, “One time I missed an assignment and I couldn’t make it up. But then a girl
comes and sweet-talked the teacher. He falls for it and gives her a make-up assignment.” Finally, several youths noted that girls have stricter rules at home than boys. One girl noted, “When me and my brother want to go next door . . . mom said yes to my brother and to me she said come back at 8:00.” Awareness of ethnic and gender bias. The relationship between awareness of ethnic bias and awareness of gender bias was examined by tests of associations in which the type of ethnic bias mentioned was compared with the type of gender bias mentioned. Results indicated that there was a significant association between the two types of bias for European American children (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 4.21, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .05). As Figure 1 shows, 82% of the European American youths who were unaware of gender bias were also unaware of ethnic bias. In contrast, only 27% of the European American youths who were unaware of ethnic bias were also unaware of gender bias. The largest single category of European American youths (19%) had witnessed gender bias but were unaware of ethnic bias.
Relationships Between Awareness of Bias and Group Identity To examine how youths’ ethnic and gender identities are related to one another within individuals, we conducted cluster analysis. Specifically, we used k-means cluster analysis with all eight of the ethnic and gender identity measures (ethnic and gender identity salience, ethnic and gender identity centrality, positivity/ importance of ethnicity, contentedness with gender, felt gender typicality, felt pressure to conform to gender norms) to create nonoverlapping groups that maximized within-cluster homogeneity. The analysis indicated four distinct clusters of youths (see Table 3). The largest group, labeled group-focused, consisted of 135 children (38.6%) who had salient and central gender and ethnic identities, felt positive about their ethnicity, and felt content and typical for their gender. The second-largest group, labeled individual-focused, consisted of 92 children (26.3%) who had neither salient nor central gender or ethnic identities, felt their ethnicity was unimportant, and felt no pressure to conform to gender norms yet felt content with their gender. The third group, labeled gender-focused, consisted of 73 children (20.9%) who had salient and central gender (but not ethnic) identities and felt their ethnicity was unimportant, but felt atypical and discontent with gender norms. The final group, labeled ethnicity-focused, consisted of 34 children (9.7%) who had salient and central ethnic (but
50 Number of parcipants
Table 2 Number (and Percentage) of Students Aware of Gender Bias by Ethnic Group, Gender, and Grade Level
467
40 Target (E) Witness (E) Generally aware (E) Not aware (E)
30 20 10 0 Not aware Generally (G) aware (G)
Witness (G)
Target (G)
Figure 1. Number of European American youths aware of gender bias (G) and ethnic bias (E).
BRIEF REPORT
468
Table 3 Four Clusters Derived From Cluster Analysis of Youths’ Ethnic and Gender Identities Variable Identity measure Ethnic identity salient at least once (%) Ethnic identity centrality: M (SD) Ethnic positivity/importance: M (SD) Gender identity salient at least once (%) Gender identity centrality: M (SD) Gender contentedness: M (SD) Felt gender typicality: M (SD) Felt pressure: M (SD) Awareness of bias (n) Ethnic bias Not aware Generally aware Witness Target Gender bias Not aware Generally aware Witness Target Demographics (%) Girls per cluster 4th/6th/8th graders across clusters AA/EA/L across clusters Total Note.
Group-focused
Individual-focused
Gender-focused
Ethnicity-focused
80 4.05 (1.61) 3.40 (0.61) 65 3.51 (1.59) 2.66 (0.69) 2.71 (0.71) 2.41 (0.71)
0 4.92 (1.54) 3.18 (0.66) 0 4.05 (1.51) 2.78 (0.78) 2.73 (0.75) 2.17 (0.68)
0 4.93 (1.37) 3.19 (0.61) 35 3.64 (1.53) 2.58 (0.67) 2.58 (0.63) 2.15 (0.62)
20 3.52 (1.46) 3.56 (0.42) 0 3.79 (1.64) 2.74 (0.66) 2.72 (0.68) 2.50 (0.76)
56 25 46 8
45 11 32 4
41 9 19 4
18 7 5 2
28 27 47 29
26 19 28 19
17 17 21 17
9 7 11 7
57 40/39/46 42/28/48 40.4
61 24/31/25 28/37/20 27.5
71 28/20/18 22/27/18 21.9
56 9/11/11 8/8/13 10.2
The identity measures were included in the cluster analysis. AA ⫽ African American; EA ⫽ European American; L ⫽ Latino.
not gender) identities, felt their ethnicity was positive and important, and felt content and typical for their gender. Further analyses revealed that these four groups of children differed on the basis of gender, ethnicity, and grade level. First, there were gender (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 3.66, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .05) and ethnic (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 23.01, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .001) group differences among fourth graders, such that more girls than boys, and more African American and Latino than European American youths, were classified as group-focused. European American fourth graders were more likely to be individualfocused. Among sixth graders, Latino youths were still more likely to be group-focused than were European American youths (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 9.89, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .005). There were no differences among eighth graders. These trends were the same for boys and girls. Finally, we examined whether the four clusters of youths differed in their awareness of ethnic and gender bias. In terms of ethnic bias, results indicated that, among fourth graders, 71% of youths classified as gender-focused were unaware of ethnic discrimination, compared with 40% of youths classified as groupfocused (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 4.25, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .05). In terms of gender bias, all of the Latino boys who were classified as gender-focused were either a witness to (67%) or target of (33%) gender bias (Linear ⫻ Linear association ⫽ 4.66, df ⫽ 1, p ⬍ .05). In addition, the majority of Latino boys (58%) who were classified as individual-focused were not aware of gender bias.
Discussion The current study examined two aspects of membership in gender and ethnic groups among children in late childhood and
early adolescence—specifically awareness of group bias and gender and ethnic identities. First, the study found that approximately half of the youths in this sample were aware of ethnic bias and approximately three fourths of the youths were aware of gender bias. For both ethnic and gender bias, youths more frequently mentioned witnessing instances of bias directed at others than being the target of bias. This is consistent with previous research with adults showing a greater tendency to perceive discrimination directed at the group than at the self (Crosby, 1984). Awareness of bias, however, differed by youths’ ethnicity, gender, and grade level. European American youths, in particular, were more likely to be aware of gender than ethnic bias. Furthermore, although the three ethnic groups were equally aware of ethnic bias in middle school (sixth and eighth graders), African American and Latino youths were more likely to be aware of ethnic bias in fourth grade than were European American youths. These findings are not surprising given previous research showing European American teens are less likely to be the target of ethnic bias than are African American or Latino teens (Fisher et al., 2000). Thus, for European American children, gender bias may be the most self-relevant type of bias. In addition, African American and Latino children are more likely than European American children to have been socialized to be aware of ethnic discrimination (see Hughes et al., 2006). In addition, among sixth graders, girls were more likely to give an example of being the target of gender bias than were boys, and boys were more likely to be unaware of gender bias than were girls. This is consistent with previous research that found girls were more likely than boys to perceive themselves to be the target
BRIEF REPORT
of experimentally manipulated gender discrimination (Brown, Bigler, & Chu, 2010). It seems possible that girls develop an awareness of the lower social status of females relative to males, which in turn leads them to develop a sensitivity to discriminatory treatment. This differential awareness seems to be most pronounced in early adolescence. Because of the qualitative nature of the data, we were able to examine the instances of bias that were most salient, or easily accessible, to youths. The most common examples of ethnic bias involved being excluded from an activity or being verbally harassed because of their ethnic group membership. For African American and Latino early adolescents in our sample, incidences of bias in public spheres, such as being served later at a restaurant than were European American families, were also salient. These examples support recent research with similar-aged ethnic minority children that found that half of the children experienced verbal harassment and one third experienced bias in restaurants because of ethnicity or race (Pachter, Bernstein, Szalacha, & Garcı´a Coll, 2010). Importantly, as shown in other work (Pachter et al., 2010), our research indicates that many types of bias can be both perpetrated and perceived by members of any ethnic group. The most common examples of gender bias differed by gender. Boys most often mentioned teachers being more lenient and trusting of girls than boys; girls most often mentioned boys not letting girls play sports. This distinction that girls were inferior in sports held negative repercussions for boys as well, such as having more required pushups than did girls. This perception of bias in sports and athletics is consistent with Leaper and Brown’s (2008) findings among older adolescent girls but shows girls notice the discrepancy earlier than high school. The current study also examined how gender and ethnic identities overlap with one another and how they relate to youths’ awareness of bias. Results indicated that the largest cluster of youths highly valued both their ethnic and gender group identity. Among the youngest children in the sample, this cluster largely comprised youths in negatively stereotyped groups. For example, among fourth and sixth graders, these group-focused youths were more likely to be Latino or African American than European American and more likely to be girls than boys. This pattern was not, however, apparent for the oldest youths in the sample. These findings partially support previous work indicating that negatively stereotyped group members have the most salient, positive group identities (Garcı´a Coll & Marks, 2009; Kim-ju & Liem, 2003; Turner & Brown, 2007) and further suggest that children in negatively stereotyped groups may begin the process of thinking about their group memberships earlier than do children in other groups. Future longitudinal research should be conducted to address this possible developmental trajectory. These findings also suggest that belonging to one negatively stereotyped group may lead some youths to focus on their multiple social groups, not simply the stigmatized group. For example, girls valued not only their gender but also their ethnicity more than did boys. Among youths who focused on only one identity, more of them focused exclusively on their gender than their ethnicity. This focus on gender was not entirely positive, because those youths also felt rather atypical and discontent with gender roles. This finding parallels the previously mentioned results showing that more children are aware of gender bias than ethnic bias. Overall, gender appears to be a more important social group for fourth through
469
eighth graders than is ethnicity. Further, younger youths who focused exclusively on their gender identity were more likely to be unaware of ethnic bias than were children who focused on both their ethnic and gender identities. These children seemed to ignore ethnicity, both as a part of their identity and as a basis for differential treatment. In this sample, Latino boys showed the strongest links between their group identity and their awareness of bias. Specifically, although the vast majority of children were aware of gender bias, most of the children who were unaware of gender bias were Latino boys who were individual-focused (i.e., who did not focus on either social group). In other words, the youths most likely to be unaware of the commonly experienced gender bias were Latino boys who seemed to be unconcerned with their social group memberships. In contrast, all of the Latino boys who were genderfocused had either witnessed or were the target of gender bias. Thus, some Latino boys seemed to be acutely aware of gender. It is unclear, however, whether their focus on their gender identity precipitated their perceptions of gender bias or whether experiences with gender bias led to an increased focus on their gender identity. Future research should more closely examine Latino boys’ awareness of gender bias. As with all research, there are several limitations to the current study. First, this data was collected in Los Angeles, a unique ethnic context for children. Future work should be conducted in other regions in the country to examine how experiences with bias differ. Second, there are important confounds between ethnicity, majority/minority status, and socioeconomic status of individuals and schools. Generalizations about differences in awareness of bias across ethnic groups, for example, should be tempered by knowing that most Latino youths in this sample were poorer than European American youths, attended poorer schools than did European American youths, and were likely to be in the majority at their school. Work by Garcı´a Coll and Marks (2009) has highlighted the importance of not generalizing across ethnic groups, finding that the relationships between ethnic identity and perceptions of bias vary considerably across children of different minority immigrant groups. Finally, future research should further examine awareness of bias, paying particular attention to the ingroup versus outgroup membership of the targets and perpetrators. In sum, there are three important “take-away messages” of this study. First, gender and ethnic bias are common across late childhood and early adolescence, occurring developmentally earlier than traditionally examined (Brown & Bigler, 2005; Garcı´a Coll & Marks, 2009). Second, children from both genders and from all ethnic groups can be the witness or target of discrimination. Third, the majority of children, by fourth grade, are thinking about at least one of their social group identities. It is clear that research should focus on late childhood as an important period in the development of group identity and intergroup relations.
References Aboud, F., & Ruble, D. (1987). Identity constancy in children: Developmental processes and implications. In T. Honess & K. Yardley (Eds.), Self and identity: Perspectives across the lifespan (pp. 95–107). New York, NY: Routledge. Akiba, D., Szalacha, L., & Garcı´a Coll, C. (2004). Multiplicity of ethnic identification during middle childhood: Conceptual and methodological
470
BRIEF REPORT
considerations. In M. Mascolo & J. Li (Eds.), Culture and developing selves: Beyond dichotomization (pp. 45– 60). San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass. Albertini, V. (2004). Racial mistrust among immigrant minority students. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 311–331. doi:10.1023/B: CASW.0000035219.41710.0f Alvarez, J. M., Cameron, J., Garfinkle, G. S., Ruble, D. N., & Fuligni, A. J. (2001, April). Identity development in immigrant children. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN. Bennett, M., & Sani, F. (2003). The role of target gender and race in children’s encoding of category-neutral person information. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 99 –112. doi:10.1348/ 026151003321164645 Bigler, R., & Liben, L. (1993). A cognitive-developmental approach to racial stereotyping and reconstructive memory in Euro-American children. Child Development, 64, 1507–1518. doi:10.2307/1131549 Bowman, P. J., & Howard, C. H. (1985). Race-related socialization, motivation, and academic achievement: A study of Black youths in three-generation families. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 134 –141. doi:10.1016/S0002-7138(09)60438-6 Branscombe, N., Schmitt, M., & Harvey, R. (1999). Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 135–149. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.135 Brown, C. S., & Bigler, R. S. (2005). Children’s perceptions of discrimination: A developmental model. Child Development, 76, 533–553. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00862.x Brown, C. S., Bigler, R. S., & Chu, H. (2010). Experimental study of the correlates and consequences of perceiving oneself to be the target of gender discrimination. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 107, 100 –117. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2010.04.010 Carver, P., Yunger, J., & Perry, D. (2003). Gender identity and adjustment in middle childhood. Sex Roles, 49, 95–109. doi:10.1023/A: 1024423012063 Chavous, T. V., Bernat, D. H., Schmeelk-Cone, K., Caldwell, C. H., Kohn-Wood, L., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2003). Racial identity and academic attainment among African American adolescents. Child Development, 74, 1076 –1090. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00593 Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608 – 630. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.608 Crosby, F. (1984). The denial of personal discrimination. American Behavioral Scientist, 27, 371–386. doi:10.1177/000276484027003008 DuBois, D. L., Burk-Braxton, C., Swenson, L. P., Tevendale, H. D., & Hardesty, J. L. (2002). Race and gender influences on adjustment in early adolescence: Investigation of an integrative model. Child Development, 73, 1573–1592. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00491 Eccles, J., Wong, C., & Peck, S. (2006). Ethnicity as a social context for the development of African-American adolescents. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 407– 426. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2006.04.001 Egan, S. K., & Perry, D. G. (2001). Gender identity: A multidimensional analysis with implications for psychosocial adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 37, 451– 463. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.37.4.451 Erikson, E. (1968). Identity, youth, and crises. New York, NY: Norton. Fisher, C., Wallace, S., & Fenton, R. (2000). Discrimination distress during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 679 – 695. doi: 10.1023/A:1026455906512 Garcı´a Coll, C., & Marks, A. K. (2009). Immigrant stories: Ethnicity and academic in middle childhood. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Gurin, P., & Townsend, A. (1986). Properties of gender identity and their implications for gender consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 139 –148.
Harter, S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Development, 53, 87–97. doi:10.2307/1129640 Hughes, D., Rodriguez, J., Smith, E. P., Johnson, D. J., Stevenson, H. C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents’ racial/ethnic socialization practices: A review of research and agenda for future study. Developmental Psychology, 42, 747–770. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.747 Huynh, V. W., & Fuligni, A. J. (in press). Discrimination hurts: The academic, psychological, and physical well-being of adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence. Katz, P., & Kofkin, J. (1997). Race, gender, and young children. In S. Luthar, J. Burack, D. Cicchetti, & J. Weisz (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Perspectives on adjustment, risk, and disorder (pp. 51–74). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Kim-ju, G. M., & Liem, R. (2003). Ethnic self-awareness as a function of ethnic group status, group composition, and ethnic identity orientation. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9, 289 –302. doi: 10.1037/1099-9809.9.3.289 Leaper, C., & Brown, C. S. (2008). Perceived experiences with sexism among adolescent girls. Child Development, 79, 685–704. doi:10.1111/ j.1467-8624.2008.01151.x Martin, C., & Ruble, D. (2004). Children’s search for gender cues: Cognitive perspectives on gender development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 67–70. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00276.x McMaster, L. E., Connolly, J., Pepler, D., & Craig, W. M. (2002). Peer to peer sexual harassment in early adolescence: A developmental perspective. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 91–105. doi:10.1017/ S0954579402001050 Nesdale, D. (2004). Social identity processes and children’s ethnic prejudice. In M. Bennett & F. Sani (Eds.), The development of the social self (pp. 219 –245). New York, NY: Psychology Press. doi:10.4324/ 9780203391099_chapter_8 Ogbu, J. (1990). Minority education in comparative perspective. Journal of Negro Education, 59(1), 45–57. doi:10.2307/2295291 Operario, D., & Fiske, S. (2001). Ethnic identity moderates perceptions of prejudice: Judgments of personal versus group discrimination and subtle versus blatant bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 550 –561. doi:10.1177/0146167201275004 Pachter, L. M., Bernstein, B. A., Szalacha, L. A., & Garcı´a Coll, C. (2010). Perceived racism and discrimination in children and youths: An exploratory study. Health & Social Work, 35, 61– 69. Pepler, D., Craig, W., Connolly, J., Yuile, A., McMaster, L., & Jiang, D. (2006). A developmental perspective on bullying. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 376 –384. doi:10.1002/ab.20136 Pfeifer, J. H., Ruble, D. N., Bachman, M. A., Alvarez, J. M., Cameron, J. A., & Fuligni, A. J. (2007). Social identities and intergroup bias in immigrant and nonimmigrant children. Developmental Psychology, 43, 496 –507. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.2.496 Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: Review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 499 –514. doi:10.1037/00332909.108.3.499 Phinney, J. S. (1992). The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure: A new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of Adolescent Research, 7, 156 –176. doi:10.1177/074355489272003 Phinney, J. S. (1996). Understanding ethnic diversity: The role of ethnic identity. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 143–152. doi:10.1177/ 0002764296040002005 Phinney, J. S., & Tarver, S. (1988). Ethnic identity search and commitment in Black and White eighth graders. Journal of Early Adolescence, 8, 265–277. doi:10.1177/0272431688083004 Quintana, S. (1998). Children’s developmental understanding of ethnicity and race. Applied & Preventive Psychology, 7, 27– 45. doi:10.1016/ S0962-1849(98)80020-6 Quintana, S. (2007). Racial and ethnic identity: Developmental perspec-
BRIEF REPORT tives and research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54, 259 –270. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.54.3.259 Ramsey, P. (1987). Young children’s thinking about ethnic differences. In J. Phinney & M. Rotheram (Eds.), Children’s ethnic socialization (pp. 56 –72). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Roberts, R., Phinney, J., Masse, L., Chen, Y., Roberts, C., & Romero, A. (1999). The structure of ethnic identity of young adolescents from diverse ethnocultural groups. Journal of Early Adolescence, 19, 301– 322. doi:10.1177/0272431699019003001 Rosenbloom, S., & Way, N. (2004). Experiences of discrimination among African American, Asian American, and Latino adolescents in an urban high school. Youth & Society, 35, 420 – 451. doi:10.1177/ 0044118X03261479 Ruble, D., Alvarez, J., Bachman, M., Cameron, J., Fuligni, A., Garcia Coll, C., & Rhee, E. (2004). The development of a sense of “we”: The emergence and implications of children’s collective identity. In M. Bennett & F. Sani (Eds.), The development of the social self (pp. 29 –76). New York, NY: Psychology Press. doi:10.4324/9780203391099_chapter_2 Ruck, M., & Wortley, S. (2002). Racial and ethnic minority high school students’ perceptions of school disciplinary practices: A look at some Canadian findings. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31, 185–195. doi:10.1023/A:1015081102189 Sellers, R. M., Caldwell, C. H., Schmeelk-Cone, K. H., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2003). Racial identity, racial discrimination, perceived stress, and psychological distress among African American young adults. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 302–317. doi:10.2307/1519781 Sellers, R. M., Smith, M. A., Shelton, J. N., Rowley, S. A. J., & Chavous, T. M. (1998). Multidimensional model of racial identity: A reconceptu-
471
alization of African American racial identity. Personality & Social Psychology Review, 2, 18 –39. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0201_2 Shelton, J., & Sellers, R. (2000). Situational stability and variability in African American racial identity. Journal of Black Psychology, 26, 27–50. doi:10.1177/0095798400026001002 Simons, R. L., Murry, V., McLoyd, V., Lin, K.-H., Cutrona, C., & Conger, R. D. (2002). Discrimination, crime, ethnic identity, and parenting as correlates of depressive symptoms among African American children: A multilevel analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 371–393. doi:10.1017/S0954579402002109 Steele, C. (1997). Race and the schooling of Black Americans. In L. A. Peplau & S. E. Taylor (Eds.), Sociocultural perspectives in social psychology: Current readings (pp. 359 –371). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall. Tatum, B. D. (1997). “Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?”: And other conversations about race. New York, NY: Basic Books. Turner, K., & Brown, C. S. (2007). The centrality of gender and ethnic identities across individuals and contexts. Social Development, 16, 700 – 719. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00403.x Wong, C., Eccles, J., & Sameroff, A. (2003). The influence of ethnic discrimination and ethnic identification on African American adolescents’ school and socioemotional adjustment. Journal of Personality, 71, 1197.
Received December 3, 2009 Revision received August 18, 2010 Accepted August 24, 2010 䡲
