Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2011 Jan;40(1):23-37. doi: 10.1007/s10964-010-9553-2. Epub 2010 May 25.
Ethnic identity development can play a role in youths' perceptions and attitudes concerning police, but this process has not been explored in delinquent samples. In this article, we examine how youths' perceptions of police legitimacy and levels of legal cynicism are related to processes of ethnic identity development. Participants were 561 black youth ages 14-18 (12% female) who were adjudicated of a felony or serious misdemeanor. Data were taken from semi-annual interviews conducted over 3 years. Increased ethnic identity exploration was related to positive perceptions of police legitimacy and lower legal cynicism. Higher ethnic identity affirmation predicted higher perceived legitimacy over time, but affirmation was not related to legal cynicism after accounting for psychosocial maturity. This study provides evidence that ethnic identity development operates similarly among high risk youth as in non-delinquent samples, and that it is connected to beliefs that can have implications for juvenile offenders' future compliance with the law.
种族认同发展可以影响青少年对警察的看法和态度，但这一过程在犯罪青少年样本中尚未得到探索。本文探讨了青少年对警察合法性的看法和法律犬儒主义的程度如何与种族认同发展的过程相关。参与者为 561 名 14-18 岁的黑人青少年（12%为女性），他们因重罪或严重轻罪被判决。数据来自 3 年期间进行的半年度访谈。更多的种族认同探索与对警察合法性的积极看法和较低的法律犬儒主义有关。随着时间的推移，更高的种族认同肯定预示着更高的合法性感知，但在考虑到心理社会成熟度后，肯定与法律犬儒主义无关。这项研究提供了证据，表明种族认同发展在高危青少年中的运作方式与非犯罪青少年样本相似，并且与可能对青少年罪犯未来遵守法律产生影响的信念有关。
