Cultural Resources and School Engagement among African American Youths: The Role of Racial Socialization and Ethnic Identity

Racial socialization and ethnic identity are emerging, albeit atheoretical, constructs that have been argued to promote prosocial outcomes among ethnic minority youths. Using structural equation modeling, the author explored the influence of racial socialization and ethnic identity on school engagement in a sample of 131 African American youths. The findings indicated that the relationship of racial socialization to school engagement was not statistically significant; however, racial socialization had a statistically significant relationship to ethnic identity. In turn, ethnic identity had a statistically significant relationship to school engagement. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.