Youth civic development amid the pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, youth experienced abrupt closures of in-person spaces that were vital for their civic development, like schools and community organizations. Social media became the primary context for youth to make their voices heard and mobilize around important sociopolitical issues like anti-Asian racism, police violence, and elections. However, youth experienced civic development in different ways during the pandemic. Some youth gained a critical awareness of societal inequities, while others were radicalized into far-right ideologies. Racially minoritized youth experienced vicarious trauma and racism while civically engaging in 2020, and their civic development must be viewed in the context of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and structural racism.

Translating critical reflection into collective action: The mediating role of Asian American racial identity ideological values.

Throughout U.S. history, Asian Americans engaged in various forms of collective action to challenge systems of oppression. Despite this, few studies challenge the stereotype that Asian Americans are apolitical and uninterested in collective action and focus on psychological correlates of Asian Americans' collective action. Collective action may be motivated by critical reflection on racism and inequality, which may induce shifts in racial identity ideological values that lead Asian Americans to align with minoritized groups. The current study examines whether Asian American racial identity ideological values-specifically, Asian American Unity, Interracial Solidarity, and Transnational Critical Consciousness-help explain why critical reflection is linked to collective action among Asian Americans. Multiple mediation analyses suggested that, among Asian American college students in the Southwest United States (N = 272), beliefs about Interracial Solidarity and Asian American Unity mediated the relationship between critical reflection (i.e., Critical Reflection on Racism and Perceived Inequality) and collective action (i.e., Support for Black Lives Matter and Sociopolitical Participation). Transnational Critical Consciousness did not mediate the relationship between critical reflection and collective action. This study highlights how Asian American unity and interracial solidarity beliefs underlie Asian Americans' critical reflection and collective action.