Increased attention is being placed on the importance of ethnic-racial socialization in children of color's academic outcomes. Synthesizing research on the effects of parental ethnic-racial socialization, this meta-analysis of 37 studies reveals that overall the relation between ethnic-racial socialization and academic outcomes was positive, though the strength varied by the specific academic outcome under consideration, dimension of ethnic-racial socialization utilized, developmental age of the child receiving the socialization, and racial/ethnic group implementing the socialization. Ethnic-racial socialization was positively related to academic performance, motivation, and engagement, with motivation being the strongest outcome. Most dimensions of ethnic-racial socialization were positively related to academic outcomes, except for promotion of mistrust. In addition, the link between ethnic-racial socialization and academic outcomes was strongest for middle school and college students, and when looking across ethnic-racial groups, this link was strongest for African American youth. The results suggest that different dimensions of ethnic-racial socialization have distinct relationships with diverse academic outcomes and that the effects of ethnic-racial socialization vary by both youth developmental levels and racial/ethnic groups.

Abstract Objectives The police killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, had widespread effects on American adults, and especially Black adults. Here, we investigate to what extent daily well-being of adolescents shifted systematically following the killing and assess heterogeneity at the intersection of gender and race. Methods We use a comparative interrupted time series design comparing within-person trends in daily fear, anger, emotional distress, and unsafety reported by a national sample of adolescents participating in a 15-day daily diary study Wave that intersected the murder (May 18-June 1, 2020; Black n = 224, White n = 153) to those of adolescents participating in ten other two-week-long daily diary Waves that did not intersect the murder (Black n = 576, White n = 410). The identifying assumption is that absent the killing, within-person slopes for given outcomes immediately following the killing would have resembled the average of respective slopes from the benchmark Waves. Results In the days following May 25, 2020, Black males experienced elevated fear and distress. Black females experienced elevated fear, anger, and unsafety. White females experienced elevated daily distress. There is more modest evidence of increases in daily unsafety among Black males. White males experienced minimal changes in daily well-being. Conclusions Daily well-being worsened in the short term especially among Black adolescents following the police killing of George Floyd. Moving beyond the dominant focus on direct and vicarious exposure to police violence, these results suggest that high-profile incidents of police violence can harm adolescents' well-being even when they are not proximate to these incidents.

Using a robust moderated mediation approach with a socioeconomically diverse sample of 1,532 adolescents(M age = 14.61 years; 51% female; 68% White, 28% Black; 48% economically disadvantaged), this study tested whether growth mindset and behavioral engagement mediated the link between classroom quality and math and science achievement and whether effects varied by race or socioeconomic status. Student engagement, but not mindset, significantly mediated the association in both subjects. Mediation effects varied by race in math, with weaker effects for Black students, but did not differ by socioeconomic status. Findings underscore engagement, rather than mindset, as the primary mechanism linking classroom quality to academic achievement, highlighting the need for subject-specific and equity-focused strategies to support all learners.

Teachers' hand movements shape how children learn mathematics, but not all movements are equally effective. Gesture-based instruction on problems like 4+2+5=__+5—where a teacher forms a V-shaped hand under the 4 and 2 and points to the blank (“grouping strategy”)—promotes learning more than action-based instruction, where the teacher manipulates magnetic numbers to mimic the gestures. How do gestures facilitate learning? We tested 8- to 10-year-old children (N = 76) using fNIRS to measure neural activity as they watched gesture-based or action-based videotaped lessons. Gesture-based instruction elicited greater intersubject neural synchrony in the motor cortex and angular gyrus, a region implicated in arithmetic processing. Critically, synchrony in the right angular gyrus during gesture instruction predicted learning gains, whereas synchrony during action-based instruction did not. Our findings indicate that gestures foster shared representations in brain regions supporting arithmetic reasoning, and highlight fNIRS as a powerful tool for capturing how learning unfolds in children.

= .003). This study is among the first to demonstrate that racism-related vigilance is a key developmental process linking racial discrimination to elevated depression and anxiety among ethnoracially minoritized youth at the daily level. Results underscore the need for prevention efforts that help youth balance the adaptive role of heightened vigilance amid ongoing racism exposure with the cultivation of a larger repertoire of skills necessary for meeting the broader developmental demands of adolescence, including navigating situations that do not involve racial threat. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic-racial discrimination is a pernicious experience that affects discriminated adolescents' healthy human development, but the spillover consequences of discrimination on the nondiscriminated adolescent population are less clear. Adolescents who vicariously witness their classmates experience ethnic-racial discrimination from educators may question their educators' authority and classroom rules, and educators who perpetuate discrimination may engage in other practices that disadvantage the entire classroom. Thus, we posed three research questions: Did classmates' ethnic-racial discrimination from teachers predict adolescents' classroom adjustment outcomes (e.g., class grades, test scores, and engagement), did classroom climate mediate the link between classmates' ethnic-racial discrimination and adolescents' classroom adjustment outcomes, and did the results differ between early versus middle adolescents? To answer these research questions, the present study leveraged longitudinal data among 1,539 adolescents (M-age = 13.81, SDage = 1.49; 60% Black, 30% White, 9% other, 1% Asian; 49% female, 51% male) nested in 104 math classrooms, as math is a subject domain with pervasive ethnic-racial stereotypes about students' abilities and opportunities to succeed in class. Results illustrated that direct and vicarious ethnic-racial discrimination from math educators in the fall semester predicted worse math course grades, state-administered standardized test scores, and classroom engagement across the fall and spring semesters. Math classroom climate perceptions mediated the longitudinal relations between ethnic-racial discrimination and their math adjustment outcomes, and the role of ethnic-racial discrimination varied across different developmental stages of adolescence. Implications for the measurement of ethnic-racial discrimination in the classroom context and the social contagion linked to ethnic-racial disadvantage are discussed.

Given math -related fields are still highly racialized and gendered (NCSES, 2021), this study assessed: 1) whether there were racial differences in adolescents' perceived math cost alongside expectancies and values and 2) the extent to which perceived math cost alongside expectancies and values explained yearly changes in achievement differences by race and gender. This study assessed 2,338 Black (39.4 %) and White (60.6 %) adolescents, roughly half girls (47.8 %), in the 6th to 12th grades (M = 14.71 years old, SD = 1.93, 61.7 % qualifying for free or reduced priced lunch). The results indicated that Black adolescents perceived higher costs to learning math than their White peers but value math in similar ways. Perceived math cost was the only motivational belief to explain achievement differences between Black and White girls but not boys after adjusting for socioeconomic status and grade level. In contrast, perceptions of ability beliefs explained achievement differences between Black boys and girls. These findings point to the importance of employing intersectional approaches to understand the relationship between math motivation and achievement.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the promotive and protective effects of parental and peer racial-ethnic socialization (RES) on adolescents' psychological well-being in the context of racial-ethnic discrimination. We hypothesized that RES would buffer the pernicious effects of discrimination on well-being by promoting more proactive coping (problem solving, seeking social support) and less avoidant coping responses. METHOD: Participants were a nationally representative sample of 371 ethnoracially minoritized adolescents who were recruited through a research survey panel (51.75% assigned female sex at birth; 46.90% Black, 24.80% Latine, 20.22% Asian/Asian American; mean age = 14.47 years, SD age = 1.46 years, range = 10-19 years). Participants completed daily surveys of exposure to racial-ethnic discrimination, RES, coping, and psychological well-being across 30 days. RESULTS: Results indicated parental cultural socialization promoted more positive next-day well-being via increased problem-solving coping (unstandardized B = 0.01, SE = 0.01, p < .05). The same pattern of findings emerged when examining cultural socialization messages from peers (unstandardized B = 0.02, SE = 0.01, p < .01) and preparation for bias messages from parents (unstandardized B = 0.02, SE = 0.01, p < .01). RES significantly moderated the effects of racial-ethnic discrimination on avoidance coping. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that RES from parents and peers may promote more positive psychological well-being in adolescents by facilitating proactive coping processes on days when they experience racial-ethnic discrimination. Overall, the study points to the need for continued efforts to develop, test, and disseminate evidence-based approaches to strengthening RES competency, as doing so may be a critical avenue for cultivating resilience among ethnoracially minoritized youth. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: This study explores how racial-ethnic socialization from parents and peers influences the psychological well-being of ethnoracially minoritized adolescents when they face racial-ethnic discrimination. Racial-ethnic socialization is a mechanism through which individuals transmit information and values about race, ethnicity, and racism. This study collected data from 371 adolescents who reported their daily experiences of discrimination, racial-ethnic socialization messages, coping strategies, and psychological well-being for 30 days. The results showed that racial-ethnic socialization messages, particularly cultural socialization (ie, cultural pride messages) and preparation for bias (ie, racism awareness and racial coping messages) promoted more proactive coping responses in youth, which in turn led to more positive psychological well-being on days when they experience racial-ethnic discrimination.

Racial stereotypes are salient to Black adolescents and to the academic domain of mathematics; however, few studies have examined the socio-cognitive mechanisms through which racial stereotypes impact math achievement. This 2-year longitudinal study (N = 790 Grade 6, 8, and 10 students during Year 1; 50.7% girls and 49.3% boys) investigated (a) the extent to which the endorsement of positively and negatively biased racial stereotypes predicted Black adolescents' math performance through their cognitive engagement and ability mindset and (b) whether gender and ethnic-racial identity moderated these links. Results suggested that endorsement of negatively biased stereotypes was associated with diminished cognitive engagement and lower math scores across 2 years (p < .05). Additionally, adolescents' ethnic-racial identity commitment moderated the negative links between stereotype endorsement and math cognitive engagement in Year 2 (p < .05). When considering the mediating role of math ability mindsets, the endorsement of both positively and negatively biased racial stereotypes operated on math performance via its links to stronger fixed ability mindset beliefs in both years (p < .05). Gender also moderated the effects of racial stereotype endorsement on math mindset beliefs in Year 1 (p < .01). This study's findings advance the field's understanding of the psychosocial mechanisms through which racial stereotypes operate, thus enabling educators to develop tailored practices that facilitate equitable access to math learning opportunities.

Adolescents of color are particularly poised to experience the mental health crisis partly due to the absence of a clear-cut solution that prepares them to cope with ethnic/racial discrimination. One resilience-promoting factor in minoritized adolescents' lives is cultural socialization (i.e., the beliefs, practices, and worldviews that youth receive about their ethnic/racial group's heritage, history, and values), but the role of cultural socialization in relation to adolescents' resilience in the face of ethnic/racial discrimination is sporadic with extant studies documenting mixed results. Prior studies are likely limited by their focus on cultural socialization from parents relative to school adults and the larger school context. Following ethnic/racial discrimination, school-based cultural socialization may reduce youth's anticipation of discrimination, trust in others from different ethnic/racial groups, and rejection sensitivity. To test our theories, the present study used two daily diaries: Study 1 followed 134 African American adolescents over a 14-day period (N diaries = 1,494), and Study 2 followed 159 Asian American and Latinx adolescents over a 30-day period (N diaries = 3,458). In both studies, on days when ethnic/racial discrimination occurred, adolescents reported greater negative affect. This daily effect of ethnic-racial discrimination on negative affect was exacerbated on days when adolescents received less school-based cultural socialization but weaker on days when adolescents received more school-based cultural socialization. The present studies underscore how school adults foster youth's resilience in the context of ethnic/racial adversity.