Racial Identification Among African American Adolescents

Purpose: One of the major tenets of social work practice addresses the person-in-environment. However, social work has yet to adequately address the complexities of identity development for African Americans who live in the historically hostile environment of the US. More so than any other group of minority citizens, the historical plight of the African-in-America is one filled with civil rights violations, separate and unequal treatment, cultural mistrust, and uncertainty. As a result, many African Americans struggle with the concept of racial identity and are forced to cope – either consciously or subconsciously – with the development of bicultural identities or viewing themselves as raceless. Understanding of the development of racial self-identity is particularly important for the development and effective delivery of services to African-American youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between environmental racial composition and racial identity attitudes of African American adolescents. Specifically, do African American adolescents who live in a predominantly African American community racially identify themselves differently than African American adolescents who live in a predominantly White community?

Methods: The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) was completed by 101 young (ages 11-14) African-American adolescents living in two rural communities: a predominantly African American community in SC and a predominantly White community in TN. The MIBI measures the three stable dimensions of the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI) to measure racial identity among diverse populations. The MMRI took a phenomenological approach to the study of racial identity by embracing individuals' perceptions of both the meaning and significance of their race. It is comprised of three scales: Centrality, Regard, and Ideology.

Results: Results suggest that racial environmental composition has a significant influence on the racial identity of African-American adolescents. A new factor, Self-Importance, was discovered. Study participants in the predominantly African-American SC community had higher Self-Importance scores than participants from the predominantly White community in TN. Results also indicated that the concepts of Ideology, Regard, and Centrality that the MIBI examines may be too complex for adolescents under the age of 15. Finally, an interaction between community and gender demonstrated that the racial environment had significant effects on girls' racial self-identity, but not on boys'.

Implications: The design and delivery of social work services clearly must proceed from a full understanding of clients' needs and strengths, a principle long known as “starting where the client is.” These findings suggest that lack of attention to racial self-identity in working with African-American youth may undermine the sustainability of that principle. Moreover, given that the effects of racial environment were significant for girls, but not for boys, further research is needed to understand these issues for application to a range of services, including adolescent pregnancy prevention, juvenile delinquency, and mental health.