Ethnic Identity As a Protective Factor for African American Girls in Child Welfare

Background and Purpose:Adolescent girls with histories of maltreatment and involvement in child welfare are at greater risk for mental health problems, including depression and PTSD, poorer school outcomes, and substance-related problems. Ethnic minorities, particularly African-American (AA) youth, are disproportionately represented in the U.S. foster care system and stay longer in care. Few studies have explored the protective influence of ethnic identity among child welfare involved adolescents. Findings from studies of adolescent minorities in the general population have found ethnic identity, defined as “one’s sense of belonging to an ethnic group”, to be positively associated with many areas of functioning including better mental health, academic success and coping. Based on a sample of adolescent AA girls with child welfare involvement, this study explored the following: What is the strength of ethnic identity of AA girls involved in child welfare? What is the association of ethnic identity (affirmation and exploration) with mental health problems, school problems and low school engagement, substance use, and low social problem-solving skills controlling for demographic and placement factors?

Methods:  Baseline data from a trauma-focused CBT study of 126 AA adolescent girls ages 12 to 18 (M= 14.92, SD=1.55) involved in child welfare were analyzed for this study. Among the participants 34% lived with biological parents and 21% lived with caregivers of a different race (transracial). Structured face-to-face interviews included these variables: 1) ethnic identity (MEIM), two subscales with higher scores indicating greater ethnic affirmation (7 items) and ethnic exploration (5 items); 2) depression and PTSD symptoms; 3) school problems (failed class, skipped school, physical/verbal fights with peers and teachers) and school engagement; 4) substance use (number of drug types used); 5) social problem solving, and 6) demographics: age, living with biological parents, number of placements, caregiver’s ethnicity. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, simple correlations, MANCOVA and linear regression.

Results:  AA girls scored lower on ethnic affirmation (M=21.4, SD=3.74) and ethnic exploration (M=12.4, SD=2.72) compared to studies published on AA in the general population. Analyses of the demographics indicated that age, living situation, home instability were not significantly associated with ethnic identity. However, girls of caregivers who were AA reported higher levels of ethnic exploration (r=.23, p<.01). Girls with greater ethnic affirmation were less depressed (r = -.25, p<.01), more engaged in school (r= .35, p<.001) and better problem solving skills (r=.41, p<.001). Neither ethnic affirmation nor exploration were associated with substance use. Results of the MANCOVAS indicated ethnic affirmation (Wilk’s λ=0.76, p<.0001) was associated with the combined dependent variables, but not ethnic exploration. The post-hoc regression models for each outcome indicated ethnic affirmation remained a significant predictor of all outcomes except for PTSD symptoms controlling for caregiver ethnicity and age.  

Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest ethnic affirmation is a protective factor for AA girls involved in child welfare, particularly for depression, school engagement, and social problem solving. For AA youth involved in child welfare, facilitating their sense of belonging and affirmation of their ethnic identity may be useful in building on their strengths and positive outcomes.