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. 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.

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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

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