Investigating the relationship between Ethnic Racial Identity and student engagement through mental health and purpose

Abstract

Ethnic racial identity (ERI) is a developmental model that recognizes that individuals with an ethnicity (e.g., Jamaican, Puerto Rican) and race (e.g., Black, White) will have attitudes, beliefs, and actions influenced by their ethnic and racial group membership which represents an important aspect of their identity (Umana-Taylor et al., 2014). Research on people of Color (POC) who positively identify with their own ethnic and/or racial group and academic outcomes has been mixed, with studies documenting no associations (Guzman, 2002; Ivory, 2003), negative associations (Sellers, Chavous, & Cooke, 1998), and positive associations (Rivas-Drake, Seaton et al., 2014). Moreover, there remains little research on examining the underlying mechanisms explaining the link between ethnic and/or racial identity and student engagement. Research in related fields suggests several potential mechanisms that may help explain the relationship between ERI and student engagement. For example, Sumner and colleagues (2018) posited that marginalization experiences likely shape youth purpose; POC, given their marginalization experiences, may be more purposeful than non-POC. Additionally, research suggests that positive feelings towards one’s ethnic or racial group are associated with positive mental health outcomes (Rivas-Drake, Syed et al., 2014) which in turn are associated with student engagement. The current study investigates the underlying mechanisms for the relationship between ERI and student engagement. Specifically, the study examined associations between either an assimilation (i.e., attitudes in which individuals define identities in nationalistic rather than ethnonationalist terms) or multiculturalist inclusive (i.e., positive attitude towards one’s ethnic-racial group as well as other ethnic-racial groups) ERI status and student engagement. Path analysis was employed to test the mediating role of purpose and mental health on the relationship between ERI and student engagement. The study also examined whether the relationship between ERI and mental health was different across ethnic-racial groups. The results indicate that ERI status was not directly related to mental health. Nor was ERI status indirectly related to student engagement through mental health. However, ERI status was directly related to purpose and indirectly related to self-regulation through purpose. Further, the association between ERI status and mental health differed across ethnic-racial groups. That is, ERI status, both assimilation and multiculturalist inclusive, was more highly associated with psychological wellbeing for POCs than for non-POCs. For White students, there was a positive association between a multiculturalist inclusive ERI status and depression. Youth purpose may explain additional relationships between ERI status and other outcomes. Implications of these findings for research, assessment, and intervention are discussed.