Do gender differences in help avoidance vary by ethnicity? An examination of African American and European American students during early adolescence.

The present research examined whether the nature of gender differences varies by race for two types of academic engagement in the classroom (help avoidance and voice with the teacher) in a sample of early adolescents (N = 456; 55% female, 60% African American and 40% European American) making the transition to middle school. Growth curve analyses indicated that help avoidance increased over time, voice remained stable, and achievement declined. In line with hypotheses based on cultural variations in the female role, there were no gender differences in help avoidance for African American students, whereas for European American students, girls were lower in help avoidance than were boys. For African American students, there were no gender differences in voice with the teacher, whereas for European American students, girls were higher than were boys. These group differences were present at all 3 waves. For all students, increases in help avoidance negatively predicted changes in achievement, whereas increases in voice positively predicted achievement. Results underscore the importance of examining gender and ethnicity together to understand academic adjustment during early adolescence.

Online racial discrimination and psychological adjustment among adolescents.

PURPOSE: To examine associations between individual and vicarious racial discrimination via the Internet and psychological adjustment. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey using a school-based sample of adolescents. Two hundred sixty-four high school students aged 14-18 completed the online survey. RESULTS: Twenty percent of whites, 29% of African Americans and 42% of multiracials/other experienced individual discrimination and approximately 71% of African Americans and whites and 67% of multiracials witnessed discrimination experienced by same-race and cross-race peers. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that individual racial discrimination was significantly related to depression and anxiety over and above offline measures. Vicarious discrimination was not related to psychological adjustment measures. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents frequently experienced both individual and vicarious discrimination online. Consistent with offline studies, online racial discrimination was negatively associated with psychological functioning. This study highlights the need to address racial issues in Internet safety prevention.

Ethnic identity, intergroup contact, and outgroup orientation among diverse groups of adolescents on the Internet.

The relationship among adolescents' (N = 228) ethnic identity, outgroup orientation, and online intergroup experiences was examined across three groups: European Americans, ethnic minorities (i.e., Latino and African Americans), and multiracials. Similar to previous studies, ethnic minorities reported significantly higher ethnic identity than European Americans and multiracials. Although outgroup orientation did not differ among ethnic groups, European Americans reported that they had more online intergroup contact than the other ethnic groups; greater intergroup contact was also related to higher outgroup orientation for this group. These results show that ethnic identity remains stronger for ethnic minorities, but intergroup interaction has become a salient and influential aspect of the online experience for European Americans. Implications are drawn for understanding and improving online and offline intergroup relations.