The Link Between Ethnic Discrimination And Self Esteem Opens The Door For The Development Of Strategies Essay

The peer reviewed article “Ethnic and Racial Identity During Adolescence into Young Adulthood: An Integrated Conceptualization” is a well written article on the struggle that people of color face when coming face to face with their identity in social situations. Umana-Taylor, Quintana, Lee, Cross, Rivas-Drake, Schwartz and Seaton (2014) analyzed ethnic and racial identity or ERI and how it relates to important developments and issues from early childhood well on into young adulthood. They worked to find the most important milestones during the development or ERI as well (Umana-Taylor et. al 2014). This paper will consist of the information given from the article and how I’ve dealt with my own ERI.

There are lots of potential effects related to discrimination. It includes things like disempowerment, low self-esteem and self-identity and also marginalisation. I am now going to explain these effects and connect them with a case study.

The lack of representation for struggling students further infused the misconception of the stereotype. Since the majority of students do not understand their Asian classmates’ family dynamic and appreciate their dedication in school work, many non-Asians assumed academic achievements for Asian students happen effortlessly. While they labeled their Asian classmates as “model minority”, such compliment can evoke jealousy and resentment. To examine the relationship between positive stereotypes and negative feelings, researchers William Maddux, Adam Galinsky, Amy Cuddy and

Those that study racial discrimination over mixed races tend to find that those individual usually do not have another mixed race relative or friend that can relate to the same situation as them. But psychologists believe that it’s best for individuals to seek help from those that are of mixed race if they have been discriminated against. But to also know that they are not alone. “Adolescents who do not have a stable racial identity show lower self-esteem,” says Astrea Greig, a Psychological Doctor that meets with multi and mono-racial young adults (and children) over substance abuse and perceived discrimination. And this being a stable racial identity, occurs when individuals either young or old, have been discriminated or brought down emotionally and psychologically over being mixed-race (or even mono-racial) that they are depressed/ashamed over the fact that they are mixed. This striking a fairly large problem, it’s best to find a biracial-multiracial, referring from what was mentioned earlier, to help when problems such as discrimination occur. It’s best not going through such as thing alone and is better when someone has a support

Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race.

81% of Black adults reported that they have experienced at least one incident of day-to-day discrimination. And Adolescence is a stage in which to examine the impact of racial discrimination on the psychological part of African Americans (Racial Identity Matters). Which can cause a person to be scared expectably if someone has already confined in themselves of their race. "My siblings had already instilled the notion of black pride in me. I would have preferred that Mommy were black. Now, as a grown man, I feel privileged to have come from two worlds" (McBride 103). It was easier to accept the black

My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.

Along with that, racial identity is another big contributor to the degradation of African American’s youth mental health, as a weak racial identity results in poorly mishandled ways of coping with racism and stress. African American students as early as middle school engage in introspection of their racial identity, where they begin to discover who they are and the negative stereotypes surrounding their identity (Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, 2007, p.256). The results of a study of 297 African American adolescents by McCreary, Slavin, and Berry found that a strong pride in racial identity was important in handling stress in a positive manner and decreasing poor mental health (Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, 2007, p.256). Students were less likely to internalize negative racial stereotypes that devalue their worth and build resistance towards it. If not, students were more susceptible to succumbing to stereotype threat, racial bias, and a negative self-fulfilling prophecy that could alter their well-being and threaten their mental health. Chronic exposure to this can severely damage African Americans adolescents’ mental health, which is evident by their mental withdrawal in school and loss of interest or motivation to achieve academic success.

African American children demonstrate early awareness of ethnic stereotypes and can identify some stereotypes about their group due to highly salient physical characteristics that may have forced them to face stereotypes at an early age. Shelvin, Rivadeneyra & Zimmerman (2014) conducted an experiment on churches, after-school and cultural enrichment programs with students aged between 10 to 12 years. One hundred and eighty-six African American students from various social class levels took two tasks; the Stereotype Awareness task where they wrote all the stereotypes they know about their race, referring to the definition and example for stereotypes that were given to them on the top part of the answering paper and the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-Teen (MIBI) test was introduced where students defined their group identity, beliefs of others about them, and importance of their identity for self-concept. Students’ results were mainly around seven

Many theories have been suggested to try to explain the low performance of Hispanic and African American students compared to their white peers. Stereotype threat theory proposes that the possibility of being judged in terms of a negative stereotype in a particular domain negatively affects one’s performance. African American students are even more vulnerable to this social-psychological threat that occurs when students anticipate the possibility of fulfilling a negative stereotype. Some of the effects of stereotype threat include anxiety, low academic standards and low test scores. (Steele,

Deficiencies in Evidence: The study indicates that African American males in the 8th grade classrooms seem to be overlooked. Studies have examined the joint influences of racial identity and self-esteem on African American adolescents’ mental health (McMahon & Watts, 2002). Among African American 8th grade male students across three years of development, we explored the moderating role that youth’s individual characteristics and cultural resources may play in promoting educational outcomes (Brittian & Gray, 2014).

Besides educational and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity is a status that is incredibly impactful in teenagers lives and it is singlehandedly the most influential social status in the lives of teenagers today. Race and ethnicity determines what others think of a person on first sight. The way our society is structured has created preconceived biases within all people against certain races. These biases and prejudices are what cause the oppression of certain races. Similar to education and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity effects jobs people can obtain, the places they live, and how people are treated. People of color have been long oppressed in the United States, when teenagers began to emerge as an age group only white teenagers were focused on in the media, it was said that “As far as the national market was concerned, there was no other kind of teenager… Black teenagers were still invisible as far as mainstream society was concerned” (Palladino). The same was said for Mexican-American teens, “For instance, Mexican-American ‘pachucos,’ the would-be bobby soxers of a less prosperous community, offered a very different image of teenage life, an image rarely seen at the time, outside of social worker reports or professional journals...Like other minority youth, pachucos, were just not considered part of the ‘American’ scene” (Palladino). The United States has been built on the ideals of white supremacy, meaning that race and ethnicity determines whether one

The world is composed of millions of people that come from different locations, are part of different races, believe in different religions, and have developed different cultures to those of everyone else. Over the course of human history, the differences that we have developed have played an enormous role in dividing us. Perhaps the chief problem that has plagued society in the past, and continues to do so to this day, is the idea that one’s race is superior to that of others; in other words: racism. Racism has led to the discrimination, oppression, and deaths of countless numbers of people. In the present, racism is often closely associated with stereotypes. In today’s society, being stereotypical often gets you the criticism that “you

How you do in school, your social ability, and your awareness of others are all guided by how you identify. Identification in one’s gender, race, religion, social class, and ethnicity are all driving forces behind your future self. Identity is a crucial part of who you are, and in recent studies and experimentation researchers have been trying to identify new, untested factors that influence behavior in people. Although, in the past there hasn’t been a strong focus on the positive and negative effects of race and ethnicity, the conversation is now shifting to align itself with the current times. With America becoming increasingly more ethnically and racially diverse, we must take the time to see how certain factors, specifically race and ethnicity, impact a person’s development and behavior.

In today’s world, there are many social issues, like poverty, vandalism and unemployment. However, prejudice has become the most dramatic one. Prejudging people for their appearance is a common practice that humans perform. People are not only ridiculed for their color, but also by their religion, sex or age. Therefore, I consider that racism, ageism and sexism are the three major problems in our society and we need to cease them immediately. Much of our world’s history were based upon racism. In the 1600’s, white men used Africans as slaves and treated them as they were not human. "Colored" people were not even allowed to use the same drinking fountains as white people. Fortunately, in the last three decades, race