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The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Socialization Trajectories of Civic Development: Examining Variation Among Children in Black Immigrant and African American Families

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Little is known about how developmental experiences spanning early childhood through adolescence prepare children and youth to engage with society (Astuto & Ruck, 2017), and even less so for ethnically diverse Black children and youth (Jagers, Lozada, Rivas-Drake, & Guillame, 2017). Building from work linking positive youth development (PYD) to civic engagement (Lerner et al., 2006), this study examined how socialization trajectories from early childhood through adolescence in concert with early childhood experiences and contexts related to adolescent civic development. Civic development was measured by the PYD outcomes of competence, confidence, connection to school and peers, caring, and character; these domains have positively accounted for civic engagement across ethnically and racially diverse youth (Wray-Lake, Rote, Gupta, Godfrey, & Sirin, 2015). Results suggest that diversity in socialization experiences, sociocultural background, and context result in differential outcomes for civic development. This finding builds on previous civic engagement work by affirming the importance of parental perceptions, civic participation (White & Mistry, 2016), socialization practices (Evans et al., 2012), and context (Flanagan & Faison, 2001). Moreover, this work highlights the importance of considering intra-group variability among Black families in civic development and suggests that being from an immigrant family is associated with differential civic outcomes relative to their non-immigrant counterparts.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
Doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Psychology
Grantor
The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York
Year dc:date.available
2018

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Karras-Jean Gilles, Juliana
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Martin D. Ruck
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Erika Niwa
  • Jennifer Astuto
  • Kristen Gillespie
  • Rashmita Mistry

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2599
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-3623

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
City University of New York - Graduate Center
Base URL
academicworks.cuny.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Karras-Jean Gilles, Juliana. Socialization Trajectories of Civic Development: Examining Variation Among Children in Black Immigrant and African American Families. Doctoral thesis, The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York, 2018. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2599