Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct;43(7):714-739.
doi: 10.1177/0095798416683170. Epub 2016 Dec 19.

Academic Identity: A Longitudinal Investigation of African American Adolescents' cademic Persistence

Sheretta T Butler-Barnes  1 , Fatima Varner  2 , Amber Williams  2 , Robert Sellers  3
Affiliations

Academic Identity: A Longitudinal Investigation of African American Adolescents' cademic Persistence

Sheretta T Butler-Barnes et al. J Black Psychol. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of academic identification and academic persistence, particularly among African American adolescents. The present study investigated how cultural assets (i.e., private regard and racial centrality) and academic assets (i.e., academic curiosity and academic self-esteem) influence African American adolescent boys' (n = 109) and girls' (n = 153) academic persistence over time. Additionally, we explored whether oppositional academic identity mediated the relationships between academic and cultural assets and academic persistence. Data were drawn from a cross-sectional longitudinal study. Results indicated significant direct effects of academic assets on academic persistence at Times 1 and 2 for boys and at Times 1, 2, and 3 for girls. Furthermore, oppositional academic identity mediated the relationship between boys', but not girls', cultural assets and academic persistence at Time 1. These findings have implications for understanding the role of assets in the lives of African American youth.

Keywords: African American adolescents; academic identity; academic persistence; gender.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Relationships between cultural and academic assets, academic identity, and academic persistence among African American boys. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Relationships between cultural and academic assets, academic identity, and academic persistence among African American girls. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Ainsworth-Darnell JW, & Downey DB (1998). Assessing the oppositional culture explanation for racial/ethnic differences in school performance. American Sociological Review, 63, 536–553. doi:10.2307/2657266 - DOI
    1. Altschul I, Oyserman D, & Bybee D. (2006). Racial-ethnic identity in mid-adolescence: Content and change as predictors of academic achievement. Child Development, 77, 1155–1169. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00926.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arroyo CG, & Zigler E. (1995). Racial identity, academic achievement, and the psychological well-being of economically disadvantaged adolescents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 903–914. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.903 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aud S, Hussar W, Johnson F, Kena G, Roth E, Manning E, . . . Zhang J. (2012). The condition of education 2012 (NCES 2012–045). Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012045.pdf
    1. Bowman PJ, & Howard C. (1985). Race-related socialization, motivation, and academic achievement: A study of black youths in three-generation families. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 134–141. - PubMed