SPOTLIGHT
Spotlight 2023-2024
Dr. Dawn Witherspoon’s New Monograph on Child Development
Congratulations to Briah Glover on Her Master’s Thesis Defense!
Former Lab Member Spotlight: Naila Smith
Dr. Naila Smith was formally a member of the CDL Fall 2020 to Spring 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow affiliated with the Africana Research Center. She joined the CDL because Dr. Dawn Witherspoon was someone who she was introduced to at a conference and shared about their research and found overlappng interests. As a a postdoc, she wanted her experience to be integrated in the lab model and be a part of a community of great mentorship. While in the lab, Naila was interested in the FAN-C project and engaged with the qualitative analysis for FAN-C. For FAN-C and PLACES/LUGARES, she had the opportunity to lead paper projects and presentations for the lab.
Naila transitioned from Penn State to the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development’s Youth and Social Innovation, Applied Psychology and Science program. She is the principal investigator of the Sociocultural Context and Identities lab examining Black youth and immigrant youth looks at issues of multicultural identity.
CDL at SRA Conference 2024
Congratulations to Tiyobista Maereg, Briah Glover, and Myles Arrington for representing the CDL at the Society for Research on Adolescent Conference 2024 in Chicago! Check out their work below.
Title: Impact of Acculturation Conflict on Black Immigrant Adolescents’ Well-Being and Education: Variation by Discrimination and Generational Status
Authors: Tiyobista M. Maereg, Shauna M. Cooper, Dawn P. Witherspoon, Naila A. Smith
Date/time of presentation: Thursday, April 18th from 1:30-3pm EST; 12:30-2pm CST
Abstract:
Acculturation conflict can arise in the parent-youth relationship when the dyad experiences a mismatch in their cultural values and attitudes (Juang et al., 2012). Research shows this conflict can impact immigrant youth’s mental health and educational outcomes which also varies by generation status (Lui, 2015). This study investigates the influence of cultural stressors such acculturative conflict and racial-ethnic discrimination on the mental health and education outcomes of Black immigrant youths. We examine: (1) the relationship between cultural stressors and youths’ depressive symptoms and education expectations, (2) how racial-ethnic discrimination moderates the association between acculturation conflict and youth outcomes; and (3) how the proposed relationship varies by generation (gen) status.
We used two waves of data (W1, W2) from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Portes & Rubmbaut, 1991-2006). Participants were 343 Black immigrant youths (64.1% female; Mage = 14.25, SD = .86). Youths’ reported behavior-related acculturation conflict at W1 and depressive symptoms at W1 and W2. For discrimination, participants indicated if they had ever felt discriminated against and provided the main reason for discrimination (i.e., race, ethnicity, or race-ethnicity). Youths’ educational expectations and perceptions of parental expectations were measured at W2.
Linear regressions indicated more acculturation conflict was associated with less depressive symptoms at W2 for 1st gen youths (B = -.75, p = .04) but not for 2nd gen youth. Additionally, 1st gen’s reports of racial-ethnic discrimination was associated with fewer depressive symptoms at W2 (B = -4.44, p = .048). A significant interaction effect showed 1st gen youths experiencing high acculturation conflict and high discrimination reported more depressive symptoms for (B = 2.75, p = .03) and those experiencing high acculturation conflict and low discrimination reported fewer depressive symptoms (B = -.79, p = .02). More racial-ethnic discrimination was associated with higher parent education expectations (B = 6.65, p = .003). Simple slope analysis showed that for 1st gen youths who reported more discrimination, acculturation conflict was marginally associated with lower parental education expectations (B = -.63, p = .05).
This study highlights the complex associations between acculturation conflict and discrimination on Black immigrant youths’ development and the important of role gen status.
Title: Anger Reactivity in Black Adolescents: The Role of Culture, Context, and Social Cognition
Authors: Briah A. Glover, B.S. & Dawn P. Witherspoon, Ph.D.
Date/ time: April 18th at 12:30 pm
Abstract:
Black youths’ emotions are over policed in America. The potential cost of expressing emotions such as anger indicates an increased need for these youth to have more perceived control over their emotions (Lozada et al., 2021). This is accounted for by parents in their ethnic racial socialization (ERS) strategies, which emotion socialization is posited to be inherent to (Integrative Conceptual Model of Adaptive Racial/Ethnic and Emotion Socialization, Dunbar et al., 2017). More work should be done to understand how ERS messages from various socialization agents relate to emotion expression through increased self-beliefs (Social Cognitive Theory, Bandura, 1989). Black youth and communities are not monolithic in their coping strategies, so this work should consider differences by ethnicity and place-based context (i.e., neighborhood safety and cohesion; Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory Spencer & Dupree, 1997).
In support of this mission, the current study investigates: 1) how ERS associates with anger reactivity in Black adolescents, 2) whether self-beliefs (i.e., emotion efficacy) mediate the association, 3) if perceived neighborhood safety and cohesion impacts this association, and 4) differences by ethnic group. Using cross-sectional data from the National Survey of American Life – Adolescent Supplement (Jackson et al., 2004), participants included 1,170 Black Caribbean and Black American teens (51% female, 810 Black American, 360 Black Caribbean, Mage = 15.03, SD = 1.43, Mincome = $28,000). Two structural equation models were run showing good fit. Results only showed a significant, negative, indirect effect of preparation for bias messaging on anger reactivity when looking at the categories of ERS messages. No indirect or direct effects were found for the other categories or for frequency of ERS messages. Additional models will be run to examine differences in the model by neighborhood safety and cohesion and ethnicity (I.e., Black Caribbean and Black American).
Advantages of the current study include the comprehensive measures of ERS from multiple socializers (i.e., parents, peers, and other adults) and the ability to examine differences by ethnicity. Findings will add to our understanding of Black youth’s emotions in the context of an anti-Black society. The implications of this work may aid in advocating for healthy environments that promote emotional well-being for Black youth.
Title: Real Friends and Associates: How Low-income Adolescents Describe Their Connections within Important Relationships
Authors: Myles Arrington, Marie Swab, Sarah Frishman, Dawn P. Witherspoon, Linda Burton
Date/Time: April 18 at 6pm (Local Chicago Time)
Abstract:
Adolescence is characterized by the fundamental restructuring of intimate relationships, transitioning from a focus on caregivers to peers (Roisman et al., 2004). These relationships contribute to feelings of connectedness, including satisfaction with one’s ties to their social context (Lee & Robbins, 1995; Lee et al., 2008), and feelings of closeness in a relationship (Resnick et al., 1997). Connectedness describes feelings about the social context that are not dependent on constructs like frequency of contact within relationships (Arrington & Scherf, 2022). Previous research indicates adolescents differ in these feelings on a between-individuals (i.e., boys compared to girls) and within-individuals (i.e., over time) basis (Way & Chen, 2000; Way & Greene, 2006). Using a qualitative approach, we explore how low-income minoritized adolescents describe their connections as indexed by the sentiments and activities that characterize their relationships during early to middle adolescence.
We used data from the ethnographic component of Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study (Angel et al., 2012), which characterized low-income families in the post-welfare reform era. Adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17 years old who lived in Boston were interviewed in 2006. Topics included their neighborhoods and schools, relationships, and daily routines. Adapting the Consensual Qualitative Research approach (Hill et al., 1997), we created a coding manual. Two coders were trained on three interviews and reached reliability on an additional three interviews (average Cronbach’s Kappa = 0.89). Discrepancies were handled through consensus; whole-case summaries were developed for 11 interviews. An additional coder will help finish the interview coding and analysis.
Preliminary analyses indicate that adolescents differentiate their peer relationships based on their connection strength. For example, one adolescent (a Black 16-year-old girl) shared that they “talk to a lot of people but I don’t consider them my friends… [I consider them] associates”. We also found that adolescents describe close relationships with consistent shared activities with caregivers (i.e., eating dinner together), but growing disconnect in comparison with peers and siblings. Another adolescent (a 14-year-old Latinx girl) reported, “I like going out [with my mom] but… I would like to have fun with my friends”. Thus, adolescents describe their connections in terms of increased sentiments with select peers, and consistent but changing sentiments about caregivers. This research adds to the study of adolescent social-developmental context, characterized by evolving relationships with caregivers and developing connections with preferred friends. Further analyses will generate additional themes and investigate the ways that low-income status shapes connections in relationships.
Dr. Dawn Witherspoon’s Midcareer Faculty Advancement
Briah Glover Recieves the Harms Award 2024
Briah Glover has been honored with the Harms Award for 2024! This award recognizes her outstanding academic achievements and contributions to the field. Learn more about Briah’s accomplishment here: https://csc.la.psu.edu/education/graduate/the-irene-e-harms-award/briah-glover/
Marie Swab Featured by CSC
Former Lab Member Spotlight: Chang (Jenny) Zhao
Dr. Chang (Jenny) Zhao was an undergraduate research assistant in the CDL from 2016 to 2017. Jenny wanted to gain research experience, particularly related to the well-being of ethnic and racially minoritized families. Given her keen interest in parenting and parent-child relationships, the research focus within the CDL was a perfect match. During her time at the CDL, she had the opportunity to work on the PLACES/LUGARES project. The innovative design of this project, which involved collecting data from Latinx youth-caregiver dyads and gathering GPS data on caregivers’ and adolescents’ activity spaces, was incredibly interesting to her. Jenny contributed to various aspects of the project, including data collection, cleaning, analysis, and manuscript preparation. As an undergraduate assistant, this experience was highly valuable and precious to her.
Jenny is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She’s excited to be working on the BOBA project, a longitudinal study examining how racial socialization processes within parent-, peer-, and social media contexts influence Chinese American adolescents’ identity and mental health.
Dr. Ashley McDonald’s Dissertation Defense and New Role
