Margaret Beale Spencer

American Identity: Impact of Youths' Differential Experiences in Society on Their Attachment to American Ideals

This article examines the problem of national and civic detachment among American youth. Using a developmental theoretical framework that integrates the ecological aspects of development with the phenomenological experiences of the developing individual, I argue that young Americans have difficulty developing an attachment to their identity as Americans due to contradictory experiences had between daily events and communicated perspectives and beliefs about America. The espoused story of America contains historical distortions, which we set as socializing adults and the collective context for youth development. Youth changes require that adults first confront the noted distortions in our own understanding of America before imposing American identity expectations on our youth. In order to do this, I propose that American society needs forums for civil discourse that can occur among groups with shared social experiences, to address these distortions in a safe space before engaging with those who have a different perspective on and experience with American society.

Invited Commentary: Exploring the Promises, Intricacies, and Challenges to Positive Youth Development

We highlight the need for and critical importance of the program of research reported in this Special Issue. We emphasize that a focus on positive youth development is sorely overdue. The impressive project covering one decade, 42 states and 7,000 participants demonstrates critical contributors to positive youth development. The two identified themes emerging from the set of papers are that contexts and the nature of assets matter for youth. Collectively, the papers explored a variety of positive youth development relevant questions and utilized combinations of annual assessments and data sources from an extraordinary data base. The core methodological and conceptual flaw across papers was the under-representation of minorities in the data set, which limited the generalizability of findings. While the major shortcoming was acknowledged at the onset and recognized as a failing in each paper, nevertheless, merely conceding the flaw was seen as insufficient given the policy, practice, and research implications. The inadequate sampling and follow-up of youth from families which continue to face persistent social inequality and having the most to gain from a positive youth development conceptual strategy and was a major shortcoming; it prevented within group analyses. The co-authors note that although research decisions made limited the generalizability of the positive youth development research strategy for non-white American youth, the intended goals for inclusiveness are evident and, accordingly, suggest a level of hopefulness.

Integrating Normative Identity Processes and Academic Support Requirements for Special Needs Adolescents: The Application of an Identity-focused Cultural Ecological (ICE) Perspective

The adolescent period continues to be a challenging phase of the life course. Irrespective of available economic resources, race, ethnicity and environmental supports, it is usually viewed as a burdensome period. The stage has special preparatory and historical relevance as youths move into young adulthood and the world of work. For particular periods of the life course, such as adolescence, developmental phases and transitions are unusually vulnerable, which makes prevention efforts more arduous although essential. Context quality and the importance of stable structural supports remain priority consideration, irrespective of the available economic resources. These themes are particularly relevant for youngsters deemed educationally or emotionally disabled. The responsibilities for maximizing youths academic performance, smoothing their transition from the early teen years, throughout middle and secondary schooling and into post-secondary training, and introducing them to the world of work are daunting developmental tasks. Accordingly, this article asserts the design and implementation of a contextually unique, culturally sensitive and educationally enhanced program and the application of an Identity-focused Cultural Ecological (ICE) intervention model designed to maximize the work skills, training, and educational outcomes of disabled adolescents and young adults.

High Hope and Low Regard: The Resiliency of Adolescents' Educational Expectations While Developing in Challenging Political Contexts

This study examines how adolescents perceive and evaluate fairness of opportunity within the United States and the concomitant impact of those influences on their educational expectations. The multiethnic, predominately (56%) African-American sample of 502 public school students were enrolled in grades 10, 11 and 12. Participants were randomly selected from secondary schools in the northeastern region of the US. Students completed self-report questionnaires which served as part of a larger multiyear study. Results demonstrated that, when compared against older students, perceptions of fairness for younger children had a stronger and negative relationship with educational expectations. For older students, positive teacher perceptions had a positive relationship with educational expectations. For younger students, educational expectations were best explained by overall school climate.

Civic Engagement as an Adaptive Coping Response to Conditions of Inequality: An Application of Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST)

In this chapter we use Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (P-VEST) to consider civic engagement as a coping response to systems of inequality faced by racial minority children. After a brief introduction we present a historical and theoretical overview of civic engagement with regard to children and adolescents and racially marginalized communities. We then introduce the P-VEST framework and examine civic engagement as a proactive reactive coping method to counteract the vulnerability and stress of systematic racial injustice. Following a discussion of the current empirical literature we explore the utility of civic engagement programs (e.g., Youth Participatory Action Research) as interventions to support positive development of minority youth. We conclude with policy implications and future directions for research to leverage civic engagement as a coping strategy for the positive development of minority children and their communities.

Stigma, Stereotypes and Resilience Identities: The Relationship Between Identity Processes and Resilience Processes Among Black American Adolescents

In the United States, the experience of race—as a social construction—is an important cultural context to be considered in understanding resilience among black children and youth. Their normative developmental changes and challenges are complicated by their experiences as members of a socially constructed racial group and the associated racial disparities in social and economic outcomes (e.g., education, employment, wealth, standards of beauty and attractiveness, etc.). These disparities are the result of longstanding, collective racialized socio-historical experiences of blacks in the United States. Collectively, their individual, family and community-level ways of “making meaning” of, and responding to, these experiences reflect various manifestations of adaptive culture—consistent, patterned and collective responses to these group-level race-based challenges. As a critical developmental and protective mechanism, intergenerational racial-ethnic socialization can influence the behaviors and identity orientations of children and youth. Using Spencer’s Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory, the authors explore existing literature to determine how one of Ungar et al.’s Seven Tensions—identity—is shaped by American race-based societal constructions and the racial-ethnic socialization of black children and youth in the United States.