AbstractIn the last two decades the demographic composition of the United States has witnessed extraordinary changes in the numbers of ethnic minorities, and no where is this more evident than in our nation's public school system. Due to this proliferation of changes in the demographics of our country, serious issues and concerns have been raised with regard to the mental health and academic achievement of school-age children from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The major purpose of the study was to examine the implications of the relationship of psychological well-being variables (life satisfaction, self-esteem and ethnic identity), mental health depression, and Intergroup interactional competence and academic achievement of school- age adolescents. In group assemblies of varying sizes, seven measures were explained to students to fill out either in school or at home and return to be collected. These measures have been previously utilized and have been found to have adequate reliability and validity (Crumly & Hyers, 2004). The reliability of all the measures was also assessed in this study and was found to have moderate to high range. The study utilized a total sample of 119 African American adolescents from low social economic status ranging in grades from ten through twelve. The findings indicated significant intercorrelations among some selected psychological variables and objective and self-reported measures of achievement. Gender differences were noted in the predictability of achievement of reading. The perceived caring, inter-group anxiety, and psychological sense of membership measures were found to be the best predictors of academic achievement. Implications of the study as well as recommendations for future research in this area are discussed.

The past few decades have witnessed unprecedented changes increase in the numbers of ethnic minorities in our Nations' public schools. Due to changes in demographic scene of our country, serious concerns have been raised with regards to mental health and academic achievement of school-age children from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The major purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between a set of psychological well-being variables (life satisfaction, self-esteem, and ethnic identity), mental health (depression), intergroup interactional competence, and academic achievement. A total number of 131 subjects in grades 9th through 12th were sampled to participate in the study. All sampled subjects came from low social economic status families of Mexican-American ethnic background. Seven measures were administered to each student in small groups of 10-12 students each. These measures have been found to have adequate reliability and validity in previous studies (Suzuki-Crumly & Hyers, 2004). However, the reliability of all the measures was also assessed in this study and was found to be in the moderate to high range. Implications of the study as well as recommendations for future research in this area are discussed.

This study examined ethnic identity and academic achievement among urban African-American adolescents and investigated how bicultural competence may be related to these variables. There is a dearth of literature in school psychology on how these variables relate to best practices for closing the achievement gap. Seventy-two students in the sixth through eighth grades from three urban parochial schools and one urban charter school participated in the study including African Americans (n=43) and students of other ethnicities (n=29). Students included in the Other category included those who self-identified as Latino, Mixed, Other, Asian American, and Native American. The sample was 65.3% female (n=47) and 34.7% male (n=25) with students who ranged in age from 11 to 15 years of age. Using a correlational design, the participants were interviewed at their schools using a brief demographics questionnaire and the Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM). Standardized test scores for each participant and information on socioeconomic status were also examined. No significant relationships were found between ethnic identity and any other variable in African-American adolescents or adolescents from other groups. As their grade levels increased, African-American students' levels of bicultural competence increased while their math achievement decreased. Students from other ethnicities who were high in bicultural competence had higher math achievement scores. Adolescent girls from the Other ethnicities group who were higher in bicultural competence tended to achieve more highly in math. Students from other ethnicities who were high in bicultural competence were less likely to receive free or reduced-price lunch. Students from other ethnicities whose parents were born in the United States were higher in bicultural competence than students in the same group whose parents were born outside the United States. This study indicated that academic achievement among urban adolescents can be consistent with a number of combinations of ethnic identities and levels of bicultural competence. The results of the present study suggest that, in order to help close the achievement gap, school psychologists and other decision makers should take socio-cultural and socioeconomic factors such as bicultural competence into consideration when making decisions for individual students and when affecting policy at the systems level.

Adolescent Identity and Schooling: Diverse Perspectives examines a range of issues related to student adjustment and achievement through research on student identity. Drawn from leading experts in psychology and sociology, it attends to important contemporary topics in educational and developmental psychology. With special attention to how students assess and relate to their own identities, this book features chapters on pertinent but under-represented identities such as parental identity, immigrant identity, and model minority identity. It blends these new topics with chapters containing the most current perspectives on traditionally covered topics, such as race and social class. In ten chapters, this book provides readers with a comprehensive set of perspectives on the relationship between student identity and success in school, making it ideal for education courses on identity in education, educational psychology, and human development.

As students navigate learning and begin to establish a sense of self, local surroundings can have a major influence on the range of choices they make about who they are and who they want to be. This book investigates how various constructions of identity can influence educational achievement for African American students, both within and outside school. Unique in its attention to the challenges that social and educational stratification pose, as well as to the opportunities that extracurricular activities can offer for African American students' access to learning, this book brings a deeper understanding of the local and fluid aspects of academic, racial, and ethnic identities. Exploring agency, personal sense-making, and social processes, this book contributes a strong new voice to the growing conversation on the relationship between identity and achievement for African American youth.

This innovative portrait of student life in an urban high school focuses on the academic success of African-American students, exploring the symbolic role of academic achievement within the Black community and investigating the price students pay for attaining it. Signithia Fordham's richly detailed ethnography reveals a deeply rooted cultural system that favors egalitarianism and group cohesion over the individualistic, competitive demands of academic success and sheds new light on the sources of academic performance. She also details the ways in which the achievements of sucessful African-Americans are "blacked out" of the public imagination and negative images are reflected onto black adolescents. A self-proclaimed "native" anthropologist, she chronicles the struggle of African-American students to construct an identity suitable to themselves, their peers, and their families within an arena of colliding ideals. This long-overdue contribution is of crucial importance to educators, policymakers, and ethnographers.