Something You Can See, Hear, and Feel: A Descriptive, Exploratory Mixed-Methods Analysis of Youths' Articulations About Racism. Issue 3 (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bañales, Josefina; Aldana, Adriana; Richards-Schuster, Katie; Merritt, Alexandra
• Is Part Of: Journal of adolescent research. Volume 38:Issue 3(2023)
• Page Start: 493
• Page End: 527
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: Racism awareness -- racial ideology -- racial consciousness -- color-blind ideology -- youth; Youth -- Periodicals; Adolescence -- Periodicals; 305.235
• DOI: 10.1177/07435584211062117
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0743-5584

Abstract

This descriptive, exploratory, sequential mixed-methods study investigated youths' articulations about racism via an open-ended survey question, and the extent to which these articulations differed based on youths' demographic characteristics. This study included 384 youth who identified as African American ( n = 98), Latinx/o/Hispanic ( n = 74), Asian/Pacific Islander ( n = 52), Multiracial ( n = 38), Native American ( n = 20), and White ( n = 100). Youth were between 14 and 18 years of age ( M age = 16.66, SD = 1.28) and were primarily cisgender girls (51.3%) followed by cisgender boys (44.5%) and transgender (4.2%) youth. Thematic analysis was used to analyze youths' responses, finding that youth displayed an analysis of intrapersonal/interpersonal racism, structural racism, and color-evasive ideology. Cross-tabulation analysis revealed that youth from lower socioeconomic statues (SES) were more likely than higher SES youth to describe racism as an intrapersonal/interpersonal phenomenon, and girls and transgender youth were more likely than boys to express a structural analysis of racism. Study findings suggest that youths' beliefs about racism are multidimensional and primarily characterize racism as an intrapersonal/interpersonal phenomenon. Results may be used to inform the development of youth programs that aim to discuss racism in critical ways.