Feeling good, happy, and proud: a meta-analysis of positive ethnic-racial affect and adjustment

Child Dev. 2014 Jan-Feb;85(1):77-102. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12175.

Abstract

One point of intersection in ethnic and racial identity research is the conceptual attention paid to how positively youth feel about their ethnicity or race, or positive ethnic-racial affect. This article reports results of a series of meta-analyses based on 46 studies of this dimension and psychosocial, academic, and health risk outcomes among ethnic and racial minority youth. The overall pattern of results suggests that positive ethnic-racial affect exhibited small to medium associations (r range = |.11| to |.37|) with depressive symptoms, positive social functioning, self-esteem, well-being, internalizing, externalizing, academic achievement, academic attitudes, and health risk outcomes. Implications for theory and research about the role of positive ethnic-racial affect among youth growing up in an increasingly diverse society are discussed.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Development / physiology*
  • Affect / physiology*
  • Ethnicity / ethnology*
  • Humans
  • Racial Groups / ethnology*
  • Social Adjustment*