Identity Congruence: Associations with Ethnic-Racial Centrality and Critical Agency

“Where are you from?” What seems like a simple question often carries deep assumptions about Black and Latinx youth. For youth of color, this question can signal that their identities are being scrutinized or misrecognized. Such moments are embedded in systems that reinforce racial categories and shape youth development through policies that erase or marginalize identities. Using self-reported data from 226 Black and Latinx youth (Mage = 14.92; SD = 1.45, 57% female) across two time points, this study examined whether youth expressed ethnic-racial identification (ERI) congruence, or an alignment between youths’ self-identified race/ethnicity and how they believe others perceive them. This study also examined whether congruence was associated with ERI centrality, or the extent to which youth view their ethnic-racial background as central to their sense of self (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). Finally, this study tested whether ERI centrality mediated the relationship between congruence and critical agency, or youths’ motivation to act against injustice (Watts et al., 2011). Descriptive statistics indicated that most youth felt their ethnic-racial self-identification matched how they believed others saw them (i.e., congruence), while fewer youth reported partial congruence (i.e., some alignment between self- and perceived ethnic-racial identification) or incongruence (i.e., no alignment between self-and perceived ethnic-racial identification). For analytic purposes, youth with either partial congruence or incongruence were categorized as having noncongruent identities. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that youth who experienced congruence were more likely to view their ethnic-racial identity as central to their sense of self, whereas youth with noncongruent identities were less likely to do so. When youth placed more importance on their ethnic-racial background to explain who they are, this was associated with a greater motivation to act against injustice. Further, ERI centrality was a significant mediator, providing a possible mechanism linking congruence to youths’ motivation to act. These findings highlight the importance of fostering environments, such as schools and community contexts, where youth feel fully seen and validated in their identities. Finally, this work has implications to reform policies, such as redesigning demographic forms to better reflect youths’ whole, authentic identities.

Author dc:creator

• Stacey A. Cabrera (23291638)

• Psychology, General
• Education, Educational Psychology
• Psychology, Social
• Psychology, Developmental
• Sociology, General

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.31451392.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/31451392