The Final Week (Sort of)

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! I've been traveling out of state for the last couple weeks for college admit weekends. But anyway, this week is supposed to be the final week for the Senior Research Project and finals week for ASU. Slight problem: the IRB has not approved our data collection yet. Therefore, my project is going to run until the very last day, May 23rd, when I will be presenting my experience and findings at the Mustang Library (wink wink please come).

The survey itself has been completed and transferred on to Google Forms (because SurveyMonkey costs money, which we don't have). Although I would love to show you the survey, I can't because viewing the questions beforehand may influence the results of those who will take the survey, but have also read my blog.

I'm really excited that I'm finally going to see the results of all those hours of reading through previous studies, planning the variables, discussing logistics, sorting through different measures, and changing the entire project multiple times because of funding issues. Finally. I never realized how much work went in to planning a research project, not just the data collection/experiment itself. Although my SRP presentation will (hopefully) include more preliminary trends from our data, my professor intends to continue analyzing it for different relationships between different combinations of variables for the rest of the year.

Now for the more exciting part of my posts: what I've learned in class. Last week, we discussed how race crosses with gender and sexual orientation. More specifically, how the LGBT experience is unique for Asian Americans. To be honest, I don't as much about the LGBT community as I do about the Asian American community, so please excuse me if I accidentally use incorrect wording to describe something and feel free to add any comments/thoughts below.

Our class split up into four groups and took turns writing on the whiteboard all the stereotypes, associated words, and famous examples of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. Although I don't have a picture of the whiteboard that we filled up, here's a picture of some of the things we wrote down for stereotypes of gay people:

I want to make it clear that a) I am in no way trying to promote these stereotypes through this picture, rather trying to raise awareness about the fact that they are simply stereotypes and b) I did not choose a gay example as an act of discrimination against lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders (there seems to be a social hierarchy within the LGBT community, too).

After we complied the lists, we realized that race had a very prominent intersection with sexual orientation. Most of the famous examples of people who came out were White, such as Sam Smith, Ellen DeGeneres, and Anderson Cooper. This may be due to the fact that minorities are still underrepresented in the media and entertainment industry, but for Asian Americans, it also has to do with the idea of the Model Minority Myth, the idea that Asian Americans are "perfect." In terms of sexual orientation and sexuality in our society today, "perfect" means heterosexual. It's almost as if Asian Americans aren't allowed to come out because it would dishonor their family and make them less Asian, or so society says.

Regardless of what background and values you have, I want to hear anything you have to say about heterosexism in the United States, more specifically, what you think about the clash between stereotypical Asian American values and sexual orientation. Thanks for reading my extra-long post, and more updates on the project soon to come!

Is Racism Even Real?

To be honest with you, not much happened this week. I was so excited all of last week to start writing to the IRB for approval of our project. On Tuesday, I got food poisoning. When I wasn't knocked out from medication (my mother thought I had the flu and gave me some to lower my fever) or throwing up or drooling at food pictures because I didn't eat solid food for two days, I officially finished typing up the survey. I will take the survey soon, and depending on how long it takes, we might cut some of the questions.

In class last week, we watched a documentary called "The Color of Fear" (1994). It captures a dialogue between two African American, two Latino, two Asian American, and two Caucasian men regarding race and racism in the United States. I thought it was particularly interesting because I was presented with multiple perspectives of the same topic. If you have 90 minutes to spare, this documentary is worth watching 10/10, regardless of your race and current understanding on racism.

Here is short moment that I related to because I have also previously tried to explain racism to people who believe that it no longer exists in the United States. The video quality isn't too great, but what Victor Lewis says about the experience of racism definitely makes up for it:

For those that cannot watch the documentary, one of the most important points that it makes is that racism is real. It has existed in the past, and it still exists today. Every day, people of color are consciously and unconsciously discriminated against by White people–or even other people of color–because of their race. And, this discrimination is physically and psychologically harmful to every single person of color: African American, Asian American, Native American, Latino. Racism is real. It's a problem. And, we all need to understand that.

It's not just racism, however. Sexism, classism, heterosexism are also detrimental and heavily debated in today's society. All of these "-isms" derive from the idea that one group is inherently superior over another. But, aren't we all humans? Then, what makes one human better than another? Better enough that society can be controlled by them?

On that note, I'll leave you to chew this post for a little while. If you have any thoughts about "The Color of Fear" or just the general topic of race, racism, or any other -ism, please feel free to comment below! 

Adventures at ASU

One of the best parts about the Senior Research Project is the internship experience. The past couple weeks, I've been too enthusiastic about sharing what I've learned in class, so I'll change it up a bit this time. During my internship, I feel like a slightly-less-busy grad student. On a typical day at ASU, I do some work at the Hayden Library with Tina (who also kindly drives me to ASU every week, along with her sister, Vicki), meet with my professor, grab some lunch (if we want to be fancy or have something to celebrate, maybe Engrained), do some more work, then go to class.

Sometimes, however, I try to take a little more advantage of pretending to be a college student. Two weeks ago, Tina and I decided to visit Gammage, the arts auditorium at ASU Tempe, and stumbled across an art museum. Underground. Although I was too engrossed by the artwork to take any pictures, here is a picture of the art museum itself (according to Google):

It's a petite museum, but definitely one worth visiting, as I'm on the campus anyways. Maybe I'll go back once the construction is finished because I plan to make the most of my semi-college experience.

On March 24th, there was a farmers market in front of the student services center that I vowed to myself and Tina to visit. And of course, I forgot. But, I definitely will go to the next one on April 7th!

While working with Dr. Yoo, I've been introduced to many of his colleagues, such as Professor Karen Kuo. Who also happens to be my classmate Massimo's mother, once again reminding me of the significance of networks. It's a small world.

This Thursday, I was drawn to the henna tattoo booth set up in front of the Memorial Union. The artist that was decorating my hand told me a bit about henna (also called mehndi). Henna is generally used in the Middle East, Pakistan, and India to dye skin, hair, and fabrics for celebrating special occasions. It's supposed to last for a week, so it's still pretty visible on my hand.

As for the project progress, I am almost finished typing up the survey after weeks of finding and sorting through different measures and obtaining permissions to use them. Honestly, I've experienced a bit of frustration with formatting and organizing the different measures into a cohesive survey, but my professor says I have it a lot easier. He had to look everything up in books and libraries, writing things by hand, manual copy and paste. I couldn't complain after that.

In the next week or two, I'll contact the IRB (Institutional Review Board) to receive official approval for the study and create an online survey to be distributed to Asian American high school students all across Arizona. More updates on the survey coming soon (if you are an Asian American high school student living in Arizona and would like to participate, I need around 200 people)!

Measuring the Model Minority and Myself

Welcome back! Last week was spring break, so I hope you enjoyed your week off from reading my posts! There's once again a change in my project. I will still do the literature review, but the survey is back on again! Woohoo! A quick recap of the survey:

I will be administering and analyzing the results of a survey distributed to Asian American high school students across Arizona. Because of the limited research in this field, the survey will address multiple independent variables, dependent variables, and mediators. An example of one relationship we hope to find is between internalized racism (IV), mental health (DV), and different types of racial socialization (M). Which types of racial socialization exacerbate or buffer the effects of internalized racism on mental health?

This week, I've been collecting measures for possible independent variables, dependent variables, and mediators. Here's a few:

Model Minority Myth Measure
Subtle and Blatant Racism Scale
Collective Self-Esteem Scale
Quality of Life Scale
Racism-Related Coping Scale

More to come on those as I read about them throughout this week and help decide which ones to use for our survey.

In my Asian American Psychology class this week, we talked about the Model Minority Myth (see last post for more details and memes). One of the reasons why not much research on the Model Minority Myth exists is because no one thought it was harmful. Why would a positive stereotype harm anyone's mental health? Ridiculous, right?

If you would like to read the 1987 article pictured above, click here.

The Model Minority Myth, as innocent and complimenting as it sounds. is actually detrimental to both Asian Americans and other people of color. Asian Americans are labeled "The Model Minority," which implies that other groups must look up to the role models, giving them a sense of inferiority. In the Asian American perspective, many students are pressured to do well in school—elementary, high school, even college—just because of their race. Beyond education, Asian Americans are expected by everyone around them to have economic and social success as well; many Asian Americans are pressured to the point of taking their own lives.

As an Asian American myself, I've experienced the effects of the Model Minority Myth. My parents expect me to get A's. When I say that I play the violin, people expect me to be the concertmaster of an orchestra. I'll admit that I've sometimes conformed to the stereotype. I've gotten A's before, but I've also gotten B's and C's. I've been the concertmaster of my school orchestra, but I've also sat in the last chair. Whether I do or do not fit the stereotype, however, does not make me more or less Asian. More or less of a person.

The more I engage myself in my project, the more I realize that I must not define myself through stereotypes. That's the main reason why I enjoy my SRP. I'm excited for all of the quantitative analyses of the data we'll collect during the project, but I'm even more thrilled by the idea that people might read my blog and learn how to define themselves beyond their physical features.

The (Stereo)Typical Asian American

Surprise! There has been yet another change in plans! Instead of administering a survey, as written in my original proposal, I will be focusing solely on a literature review of Asian American racial socialization. For the next couple weeks, I will continue to gather publications and will start going through them to find trends and create classifications for the different types of socialization used by Asian American families.

In order to distinguish whether the socialization involves more assimilation into "American" culture, we must first define what being "American" is. According to a study by Devos and Banaji (2005), most people, when asked to list "American" characteristics, talk about democracy, individuality, equality, capitalism, the American Dream, the 4th of July, the Superbowl, hot dogs, McDonald's, etc.

America in a picture.

Almost no one, however, brings up race as a factor of being "American." This is interesting because when asked to do the same for "Korean" or "British," one of the first answers to pop up is race. Koreans are a type of Asians; British are a type of Europeans. But, since America is a melting pot of different races, there is no clear definition of what it means to be "American."

On the other hand, most people claim to know what it means to be "Asian." What kind of racial stereotypes are Asian American families up against? These are the most common stereotypes of Asian people:

Perpetual Foreigner
Asians are seen to be exotic, and alien in their own land. This stereotype usually leads to questions like "Where are you really from?" (As if the word "really" would change the fact that my Asian American friend was born in Arizona.) In the media, most Asians play ninjas or kung fu masters, further supporting this stereotype, if they're not doctors or nerds like the next category.

A rare exception from the stereotype: Minho (Ki Hong Lee) from The Maze Runner

Model Minority Myth
Most people strongly believe that Asians are naturally smart and highly motivated. This meme says it all:

However, the Model Minority Myth was created during the Civil Rights Movement to justify the unfair treatment of African Americans. The argument was that if Asian Americans were so successful despite unequal circumstances, why couldn't African Americans do the same? Although this logic is completely flawed, people today still think Asians are smarter.

Hyper/hypo-sexualization 
Asian women are presumed to be more feminine, while Asian men are seen as less masculine. Even worse, many Asian men are thought to be gay. First of all, not all Asian men are less masculine than White men. Also, masculinity and sexual orientation are two completely different subjects that have no definite correlation.

Out-group Homogeneity
Are you guys sisters? No. Just because we're both Asian, doesn't mean we're related. This picture draws from the out-group homogeneity stereotype, as well as hyper/hypo-sexualization:

Communication Style
Because of the collectivist culture of many Asian countries, Asian people are often presumed to be too quiet, passive, or indirect. This stereotype originates from the language barrier that most Asian immigrants experience when they first move to America. If a White person, born and raised in America, visited China, he might not speak as much as he does in America because of the language barrier. Communication style depends much more on personality than race.

The culmination of all of these stereotypes (except satirized and applied to a White person) can be found in this video:

Fresh Off the Boat

I finally did it. I watched Fresh Off the Boat. All five excruciating episodes. For those of you that don't know, Fresh Off the Boat is a new ABC family show inspired by famous chef Eddie Huang's book Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir. The show is about an Asian American family that recently moved from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida.

Here is a trailer for Fresh Off the Boat:

Fresh Off the Boat originally gained lots of attention because of the abundance of racial stereotypes, not to mention that Randall Park, who plays the father, also played Kim Jong Un in The Interview: a movie about two journalists trying to assassinate Kim Jong Un (which was extremely controversial). Although these stereotypes are generally intended to be harmless humor, many people don't realize that the show is reinforcing both positive and negative stereotypes about Asian Americans.

With a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, Fresh Off the Boat seems to be the next hilarious thing. But, I couldn't laugh at the show at all. The biggest problem for me was that I could relate to many scenes on the show. When I moved to the US at the age of six, I started attending a primarily White elementary school. Like Eddie, the main character, I remember asking my mom to buy Lunchables because that's what all the cool kids had. 1995 or 2005 or 2015, Asian American children are still stereotyped and viewed differently because of what they eat for lunch.

Not only are the Asian Americans stereotyped in Fresh Off the Boat, but the White moms are, too. Eddie's tiger mom, played by Constance Wu, is juxtaposed against the blonde hair, blue-eyed rollerblading moms that only giggle and gossip all day. And people find this funny? Making jokes about their own races?

However, there are some benefits that Fresh Off the Boat brings. I can finally turn on the TV and see people that look like me; this TV show may be one of the first steps towards a future where beauty and norms aren't always set by White standards. According to the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which measures unconscious associations of "good"/"bad" with Europeans American and African American, 80% of Whites and 40% of People of Color showed a preference for European American. When I took the test, I also showed a slight preference for European American. (You can take the 5 minute test by clicking here.)

Although I have an unconscious preference for European American, I try my best not to judge or act based on race when given enough time to think the situation through. This is where the parental racial socialization comes in. Depending on how the parents taught their children about race, the children may act or not act upon their automatic judgments. In a society focused on treating people equally, you can see why parental cultural socialization must be researched more.

As for updates on my project, I am still gathering publications for the literature review. It's taking longer than I thought, but I guess that's research. Thanks for being patient with my currently uneventful journey! (Please feel free to tell me about your results on the IAT or your thoughts on Fresh Off the Boat.)

Let's Get Down to Business

"Oh, just gather all the references about racial socialization and stick them in the Dropbox." Easy, right? If by "easy" you mean searching through multiple databases to download and cite pdfs of every  single publication about racial, ethnic, and cultural socialization and sorting them by race, then yes. This week was very easy.

I had heard about the tremendous amount of reading required before and while designing a research project. And now, I've finally experienced it firsthand. Although my eyes water from staring at never-ending blocks of text, my brain is enjoying all the new information for the most part. Especially stories of how people of different races experience and cope with racial stereotypes.

On Thursday, our class watched First Person Plural, a documentary following a Korean American transracial adoptee. As a young child, Kang Okjin (renamed Deann Borshay) was adopted by a White family in California. When she spoke about her internal conflicts due to both subtle and obvious racial discrimination, I completely sympathized with her. What really interested me, however, wasn't our shared experiences, but rather Borshay's accounts of learning to accept parents who looked different from her. In the documentary, Borshay explains her sense of outcast because everyone else in her family—her mother, father, brother, and sister—had light hair and blue eyes. I can't imagine how I would feel if my family looked different from me.

Deann Borshay with her adoptive brother and sister.

When Borshay came into contact with her Korean mother, she faced yet another conflict: the existence of two mothers. Borshay states that she immediately felt like she belonged when she met her biological mother, who looked exactly like her. But, her biological mother wasn't the one who sent her to school, celebrated her birthdays, took care of her when she was sick. For a long time, Borshay struggled over who to call "mom" and eventually decided to get to know her biological mother as a person, not a mom.

Borshay's story really opened my eyes to another group of people to possibly include in my research project.While collecting references for our project, I noticed that barely any research papers have been published on the experiences of multiracial people and transracial adoptees (and trust me, I've read through a lot of publications). Although we currently don't plan on collecting data from multiracial students, I would definitely be interested in examining any trends if we end up with a reasonable pool of multiracial participants.

My research project so far doesn't follow my proposal exactly, but I think that's the fun of it. As of this week, I'll be contributing to a literature review on racial socialization to precede the collection and analysis of data. Also, I never mentioned in my proposal that I would learn how the ASU library system works or find the best study nooks at ASU, like the balcony of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4 (Did I mention that a friend and I accidentally locked ourselves out on the balcony?). Who knows where the next eight weeks will take me? I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

A Lamb in Sheep's Clothing

Panting from multiple flights of the wrong stairs, I slowly walked into the room. The room was naturally lit with windows lining the top of the left and right walls; the rectangular desks were long enough for three people to sit comfortably. Because I come from a high school with the size and layout of a dentist's office, everything was unfamiliar: from the sheer number of buildings to the shared desks.

But, I couldn't dwell on the unfamiliarity of my physical surroundings. I had to find a seat. Most of the students—whom I later discovered were a mixture of sophomores and juniors—sat in pairs with people they already seemed to know. Towards the front of the room was a desk with one person and two empty seats. Not wanting to sit completely alone, I took one of them.

Then came the scariest part: introducing myself to the random student I chose to sit next to. I was nervous that I would be treated differently as a lamb in sheep's clothing, a high school student pretending to be a college student. However,the sophomore I sat next to turned out to be completely welcoming and talked to me like I was an ASU student. He even kindly offered to send me the lecture notes I missed because I couldn't miss two days of my high school in a week to attend class at ASU.

To supplement my internship with Dr. Brandon Yoo, I am currently auditing one of his classes, Asian Pacific American Psychology. Five weeks into the class, I've become much more comfortable with the college environment. Fortunately, the structure of the class isn't too different from that of my high school classes. The only major change is that I only attend class twice a week, as opposed to every day. 

Besides attending Asian Pacific American Psychology, I've been helping Dr. Yoo narrow down the main research question and compile survey questions. At the moment, we are focusing on three factors that may influence mental health in terms of race: perceived racism, internalized racism, and racial socialization. 

Perceived racism is an individual's experience of racial discrimination, such as being called "chink." On the other hand, internalized racism is an individual's adoption of racial stereotypes, exemplified by Asians who get double-eyelid surgery to make their eyes look bigger, more Western. Internalized racism is hypothesized to be influenced by racial socialization, the methods by which individuals are exposed to the concept and treatment of race. For example, some parents teach their children about different races and the equality of humans regardless of race. Sorting through previous studies and measures about racial discrimination and its origins, I will be creating a mass table of measures for internalized racism and racial socialization for the next week.

In the first week, I realized that I'm learning more than just about my topic through this research project. I'm learning how to become a college student, not simply pretending to be one.

Who Do You Think I Am?

My name is Julie. I'm a senior at BASIS Scottsdale High School. I enjoy playing violin and eating ramen. 

Did you make any assumptions about me based on those three sentences? What if I told you my last name is Cho? Regardless of whether you're aware of it or not, your brain will continue to make presumptions about how I will think and act based on my Asian American identity.

Racial stereotypes are everywhere. Most people think of violent and unjust discrimination, such as the Eric Garner case, when asked about racial stereotypes. Most of the time, however, racial stereotypes pop up in everyday conversations, advertisements, television shows. Here is a short video clip to demonstrate:

Did you notice the abundance of racial stereotypes satirized by this clip? If you didn't, please watch it again. 

I'll admit I laughed a bit when I first watched this clip. But when I watched it again, I realized how insulting this video was. I'm from a Korean family; my mom doesn't wear a kimono, my dad doesn't know any martial arts, my grandpa doesn't speak in proverbs, and my house doesn't have any gongs, decorative fans, or Buddha statues. This video creates and reinforces the idea that all Asian homes—Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Taiwanese, Filipino—are exotically the same. An idea that isn't true, but still negatively affects Asians who watch the clip.

It’s the little things that add up. By a sense of competence or incompetence cued by both conscious and subconscious racial stereotypes in my daily life, I struggle with my identity. Since everyone jokes I must excel at math, I find myself discouraged and questioning my ability to learn when I don’t understand multivariable calculus. After I see that my eyes are half-closed in my yearbook picture, I wonder if the photographer would have retaken my picture if I were White. But until I take a moment to reflect on my internal conflicts, I’m unaware of the seemingly insignificant details that cause them.

Racial inequality is not simply the the product of mass genocides or crazy cults, rather the culmination of mundane remarks and actions. When we laugh at comments like “I can only see his eyes because it was dark in the picture” or “started from the border now we’re here,” we’re unintentionally reinforcing the very stereotypes that oversimplify and misrepresent people around us. Some say that it’s okay if someone jokes about his own race, but it’s not. Although the situation may appear less directly threatening, the stereotype is still strengthened. Do you want to always be expected to think or act in a certain way because of your race?

This question is what drives me to research more on race and its meaning in society. Throughout the next ten weeks, I will be interning with Dr. Brandon Yoo at ASU Tempe's School of Social Transformation to examine the effects of racial stereotypes and discrimination on adolescents of color and how these effects are either buffered or worsened by the different ways that race was presented to the individuals during childhood. Following my proposal, I will give a presentation in mid-May about what I have learned in these ten weeks (more details coming soon).

Here is a link to my project proposal:

http://hyejicho.blogspot.com/2015/01/senior-project-proposal.html

By the end of my project, I hope that both you and I will become more aware of little, everyday moments of racial discrimination and try our best to look beyond skin color.

Senior Project Proposal

Senior Project Proposal

Hyeji Julie Cho

November 10, 2014

1. Title of Project:

Who am I?: The Effects of Various Ethnic and Racial Socialization Strategies on the Outcomes of Internalizing Racial Stereotypes

2. Statement of Purpose:

There are two main questions that this research project focuses on: What are the effects of internalizing racial stereotypes and racism on individual and social outcomes of adolescents of color? How are these effects either buffered or exacerbated by different types childhood ethnic and racial socialization strategies? In a more detailed sense, I would like to concentrate on how multilingualism, as a product of multilingual parents, affects adolescents’ internalization of racial stereotypes and racism, and therefore, their  individual and social outcome, such as academics, mental health, and social interactions.

3. Background:

I have been interested in racial stereotypes since I moved to the United States from South Korea at the age of six. As an immigrant myself, I have encountered both positive and negative comments stereotyping Asian Americans, such as, “You must be good at math because you’re Asian,” or “Are your eyes open? I can’t tell.” Although they were said in joking manners, I always wondered how these potentially hurtful stereotypes came to exist.

I’ve also been obsessed with blood type stereotypes since my childhood. In Korean culture, blood type (A, B, AB, O) is one of the main distinguishing features of a person, similar to age, gender, or race.  As with different races, different blood types have their own stereotypes. For example, I’m a Type A, thought to be an introverted, considerate, and patient perfectionist. I can relate to some of these qualities; however, these stereotypes do not define my personality.

My interest in different kinds of stereotypes led me to take AP Psychology my sophomore year. I learned about different ways of categorizing personality (which was kind of a stereotype in itself): Myers-Brigg, 16PF, Type A and Type B, Temperament, and more. But, the real question I had was how do these stereotypes and prejudices influence our actual personality? This question drives my interest in my research project.

4. Prior Research:

Before explaining what kinds of prior research exists, I think it is necessary to define several terms that will be used throughout my proposal and project. According to Tatum (1997), racism can be define as “a system of advantage based on race” (p. 10), and not simply prejudice, “a preconceived judgment or opinion, usually based on limited information” (p. 5). Also, while race is defined on physical criteria, such as skin color, ethnicity is based on cultural criteria, such as language (Tatum, 1997, p. 16). Ethnic identity describes “a frame in  in which individuals identify consciously or unconsciously with those with whom they feel a common bond because of similar traditions, behaviors, values, and beliefs,” in the words of Chavez and Guido-DiBrito (1999). Finally, ethnic and racial socialization refers to “the mechanisms through which parents transmit information, values, and perspectives about ethnicity and race to their children” (Hughes et al., 2006, p. 1).

In recent decades, the number of studies on ethnic-racial socialization, racial stereotypes, and racism the U.S. has increased dramatically due to its continually growing diversity of various ethnicities, races, and cultures. Parental ethnic-racial socialization is arbitrarily divided into three categories by Demo & Hughes (1990):  individualistic/idealistic, lacking specific racial preferences, integrated/assertive,  highlighting the importance and acceptance of color heritage while still emphasizing the necessity of getting along with whites,  and cautious/defensive, asserting social distance and prejudice against whites. The terminology, however, is not standardized yet because research in the field is recent and limited.

Several studies have found a correlation between parental ethnic-racial socialization and a sense of ethnic identity (Quintana, Castenada-English, & Ybarra, 1999). O’Connor, Brooks-Gunn, and Graber’s study showed that Black girls who have received Black racial socialization from their mothers are more likely to prefer Black music and television shows over White or mixed-race ones (2000). Furthermore, by helping create an ethnic identity, parental ethnic-racial discrimination may improve adolescents’ ability to cope with racial discrimination (Spencer & Markstrom-Adams, 1999). For example, African American adolescents with parental ethnic-racial discrimination concerning racism were more inclined to select healthier and more direct approach strategies when asked to imagine situations  in which they were racially discriminated (Scott, 2003). Chavous et al.’s (2003) study suggests that a strong sense of ethnic identity is related to more positive and motivational academic beliefs in Blacks. However, no significant correlation between parental ethnic-racial discrimination and grades have been discovered.

5. Significance:

Through this research project, I hope to become more familiar with the steps of the research process and the effects of racial stereotypes on people of color.  More specifically, this research will reveal which modes of ethnic and racial socialization help adolescents cope with racial stereotypes in a healthy manner. Because 50% of the U.S. school population is expected to be made up of children of color by 2035 (Hughes et al., 2006), teachers and parents should know how to properly teach children about racial and ethnic diversity.  

Although previous research suggests links between ethnic identity and parental ethnic-racial socialization (O’Connor, Brooks-Gunn, & Graber, 2000), there are only two studies that exist today on the direct effects of ethnic-racial socialization on psychological health. Also, most research on ethnic identity has been focused on African Americans; this project will examine all races, especially those that we currently have very little knowledge about, such as Native Americans. My research project will connect the dots between ethnic-racial socialization, internalization of racial stereotypes, and individual outcomes, and social adjustment outcome across all minority groups. For others in the field, my presentation could be a reference that has integrated various pre-existing studies with new theories on ethnic and racial socialization and internalization.  Once the project is complete, I will share my findings with BASIS and, hopefully, the scientific community.

6. Description:

In order to familiarize myself with my subject, I will  read books and articles about cultural socialization and internalized racism, discuss them with my on-site mentor, and audit an Asian American Psychology class taught by my on-site mentor. Then, I will participate in the research project that my on-site mentor is conducting, helping with administering surveys to collect data. As a result of my research, I will create a presentation about cultural socialization and internalization, which will include preliminary trends of the collected data at the time.

7. Methodology:

After gaining a thorough understanding on cultural socialization and internalized racism, I will meet with my on-site mentor to contribute in the creation of more specific research questions and the logistics of creating and using a survey to adequately measure the different factors in the research question. Because this topic hasn’t been thoroughly researched in the past, a survey would be the best method  to collect data that would provide more general trends, as opposed to a case study which would result in more specific conclusions, but take more time. Possible questions on the survey include general demographic questions and pre-existing methods to measure ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic identity, such as the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, Positive Negative Affect Schedule, Perceived Discrimination Scale (Lee & Yoo, 2004).

The sample will consist of Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American high school students in Arizona, with 100 individuals of each group. Public high schools (grades 9-12) will be selected by geographical location and distribution of races, genders, and socioeconomic statuses. Once the survey is created, I will be contacting high schools to pass out and collect the surveys myself.

8. Problems:

A problem that I expect to encounter is the refusal for schools to allow for the administration of surveys. To counteract this problem, I will contact a variety of schools from all over the state to ensure adequate sample size and diversity. If this doesn’t solve the problem, then the sample can be redirected from high school students to college undergraduate students.

Another possible problem is the selection of questions for the survey. The questions on the survey may not provide an adequate and concrete measure for the variables we are looking for. Also, the wording and order of the questions may create a bias in the answers given, or people may simply choose to answer the questions dishonestly. Also, the pre-existing measurements of ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic identity may not be completely accurate based on the younger age of the sample and the diversity of races in the sample. By revising the survey questions numerous times and testing them out in a group of people who will not be included in the actual sample, we will try to prevent biased readings and inaccurate measurements on the questions as much as possible.

9. Bibliography:

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