Copy of Khushi Lakra - FINAL IWA

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APS 8 IWA 1 Does racial conformity restrict the development of cultural identity in adolescents? Lakra, Khushi AP Seminar 8 February 18, 2022 Word Count: 2,010

APS 8 IWA 2 Conformity is the behavior of alternating your attitude to create a sense of “fitting in” with your community in order to increase your opportunities in society (Cherry, 2020). Typically, conformity is induced by another person or a group of people. Additionally, conformity is referred to other behaviors that potentially act as influential factors. In regards to racial discrimination and prejudice, conformity (adaptations in behavior for compliance) plays a critical role. Racial discrimination includes the negative actions/behaviors that are typically targeted towards a group of individuals or people (McLeod, 2008). Prejudice includes the incorrect attitude targeted towards an individual apart of a certain group (McLeod, 2008). Likewise, conformity influences behaviors within individuals to engage in discriminatory acts. Social norms can also influence the behavior of an individual to conform to racist ideals embedded within society. Social norms can heavily influence an adolescent, further expanding their vulnerability to conform to discrimination and prejudice-based values. Moreover, the influence of this racial conformity can severely damage or restrict the development of an adolescent’s cultural identity. Developing your cultural identity is one of the key components of establishing your individuality. It heavily relies on your ethnic persona, cultural values, and racial individuality. However, these very values that may be accepted towards cultures, are also the ones that devalue others through forms of racism. Racism has continued to rear its ugly head throughout history and continues to do so today, impacting all culturally accepting groups, making its core values induce compliance. Adolescents are in the midst of a period of life where peer and parent relationships hold an influence on their development. Typically, they have a greater understanding of taking risks through the influence of their peers rather than on their own (Knoll. et al , 2015). Additionally,

APS 8 IWA 3 the influence of peers and parents can greatly negate a development in the adolescent’s individual evolution. In regards to cultural development, if an adolescent's surroundings were composed of individuals who may hold racist or prejudiced values, those very values would carry on to that adolescent as well. Moreover, the influence of peers was more likely to influence an individual rather than a group of adults. As more peers may be misled by parents by their racist values, these values may be spread out into a naive generation, constantly conforming to each others’ values. Additionally, as racism prevails in modern times, groups composed of people of color (POC) have long endured various forms of discrimination, prejudice, or harassment. These roles of racism are critical in the development of cultural identity, as they can significantly overpower equality within groups. For individuals who identify with their ethnic group, these values of racism can carry out into a form of projection and may mitigate the impact of racism on others (Iwamoto and Liu, 2010). These continue to strive throughout society and create social norms like the overrepresentation of westernized values that can influence individuals to partake in discrimination through internalized racism. Furthermore, they induce an obligation for conformity, damaging the ethnic identity of those who wish to accept their individuality through their culture. Additionally, those who present strong identification, increase the possibility for negative impacts of racism. This is due to how racism plays a role in establishing ethnic identity, especially to those who are more than comfortable with it. They may undergo many forms of racism such as unequal opportunities or unequal compensation, that can warp the sense of cultural identity for the next generations and so forth. As these individuals continue to accept their ethnic identity, possibly increasing their vulnerability to tolerating racism, many factors significantly establish their identity stronger. These values include self- worth, acceptance, and personal expressiveness, which strengthen their cultural individuality

APS 8 IWA 4 (Iwamoto and Liu, 2010). These skills improve the evolution of individual identity and significantly help to decrease the negative impacts of racism on their psyche. Although these qualities decrease the significant impacts of racism on our society, adolescents are still likely to conform to racial norms due to their neural sensitivity (Do, K, et al, 2020). In retrospect of how racism affects adolescents, multiple studies were conducted to measure the effects of racism on mental health in adolescents. As minority children are inclined to tolerate any form of discrimination during their lifetime, the inescapable effects of it last forever on neural consciousness. In a study conducted by the Department of Pediatrics, Anthropology, and Education, a methodical search of literature consisting of articles that pertain to biomedicine, nursing, and other allied health were compiled together to demonstrate the effects of racism on child health (Pachter and Coll, 2009). The search was composed of more than 4400 articles that date back to the 1950s until the present. Forty articles pertained to the topic at hand, and 65% of those articles pertained to the coalition of racism with behavioral/mental health issues (Pachter and Coll, 2009). Typically, most adolescents who experienced discrimination were shown to have depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, self/worth, and anxiety (Pachter and Coll, 2009). Additionally, a study consisting of the effect of parental racial discrimination on African-American adolescents demonstrated how their personal experiences with discrimination were inferior compared to their parents. As this implies, the effects of racial conformity on adolescents are generally outweighed by parental influence. Furthermore, the association between parental racial influence on children greatly impacts their idea of what culture is. For instance, if a child is heavily influenced by a singular viewpoint, their vision is only restricted to that perspective until matters may alter that perception. As this applies to adolescents and racism, if parental influence heavily guided their perception of racial

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