Psychological Resources as a Buffer Between Racial/Ethnic and SES-based Discrimination and Adolescents' Academic Well-being

While the detrimental consequences of racial/ethnic discrimination for adolescent well-being are well-established, less is known about the impact of SES-based discrimination and the potential protective benefits of adolescents' intraindividual assets. The current study addressed these gaps by investigating the longitudinal associations between racial/ethnic and SES-based educator-perpetrated discrimination and adolescents' academic well-being and assessed whether psychological resources moderated these pathways. To do so, the study used longitudinal data from a diverse sample of 750 9(th) grade students (54% female; 41% White, 34% Latina/o/x, 8% Asian American, 6% African American, 11% biracial/other race/ethnicity; 43% had parents with an associate's degree or less) in the Southwestern U.S. who were subsequently surveyed one year later. Educator-perpetrated racial/ethnic discrimination was negatively associated with students' school engagement, and both psychological resilience and self-efficacy emerged as protective for students' educational expectations in the face of racial/ethnic and SES-based discrimination, respectively. The results of the current study highlight the role of discriminatory treatment in educational disparities and provide insights on effective coping strategies to combat the negative impacts of discrimination in academics.

Automated summary

This study examined the longitudinal associations between racial/ethnic and SES-based educator-perpetrated discrimination and adolescents' academic well-being. It found that psychological resilience and self-efficacy acted as protective factors for students' educational expectations in the face of discrimination.