Assistant Professor, University of Virginia, School of Education and Human Development, PO Box 400281, Charlottesville, VA 22904.
Assistant Professor, (
J Sch Health. 2020 Dec;90(12):1019-1029. doi: 10.1111/josh.12967.
Urban black adolescents' wellbeing in the early high school years can be negatively impacted by exposure to racial discrimination. These impacts may be buffered by supportive relationships with adults at school. We considered both the protective and promotive effects of culturally responsive teachers and caring school police on school engagement for students exposed to racial discrimination across settings.
This study leveraged baseline student report from a sample of urban, predominantly black high school students with elevated teacher-rated levels of aggressive behavior (N = 397 9th graders; 91.2% black; 50.4% male; J = 10 schools). Using a path model with full-information maximum likelihood estimation, we examined the associations of racial discrimination, teacher cultural responsiveness, and school police caring in relation to school engagement and school disconnection, adjusting for covariates, including family racial socialization.
Frequency of racial discrimination was significantly associated with lower school engagement and greater school disconnection. Teacher cultural responsiveness was significantly, favorably associated with all outcomes. Police caring had no significant direct associations; however, there were moderation effects. When police caring was below average, increased racial discrimination was associated with significantly poorer attitudes toward school.
Findings suggested that students' perceptions of school police caring may buffer links between racial discrimination experiences and school disconnection. Moreover, students who perceive that their teachers are culturally responsive may feel more engaged at school. Interventions to promote teachers' and school police officers' cultural responsiveness and caring may improve engagement among at-risk urban youth who experience racial discrimination.
城市黑人社群的青少年在刚上高中的阶段可能会因为遭受种族歧视而对自身的幸福感产生负面影响。这种负面影响可能会被来自学校的成年人的支持性关系所缓解。我们同时考虑了文化响应型教师和关爱学生的学校警察对不同环境下遭遇种族歧视的学生的学校参与度的保护和促进作用。
本研究利用了一个具有较高教师评定攻击性行为水平的城市黑人高中生样本的学生报告（N=397 名 9 年级学生；91.2%为黑人；50.4%为男性；J=10 所学校）。采用全信息极大似然估计的路径模型，我们检验了种族歧视、教师文化响应性和学校警察关爱的关联与学校参与度和学校脱节的关系，调整了协变量，包括家庭种族社会化。
种族歧视的频率与较低的学校参与度和较高的学校脱节显著相关。教师的文化响应性与所有结果呈显著正相关。警察关爱的直接关联不显著；然而，存在调节作用。当警察关爱处于平均水平以下时，增加的种族歧视与对学校的态度明显恶化有关。
研究结果表明，学生对学校警察关爱的看法可能缓解了种族歧视经历与学校脱节之间的联系。此外，感知到教师文化响应性的学生可能更愿意在学校参与。促进教师和学校警察的文化响应性和关爱可能会改善遭受种族歧视的城市高危青年的参与度。
