Mexican-origin youth’s ethnic-racial identity development: The role of siblings.

Jenny Padilla, Edwin J. Vazquez, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Susan M. McHale

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ethnic-racial identity (ERI) formation is an important developmental task. Although families are a primary context for ERI socialization, little is known about siblings’ role. Accordingly, we applied the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to longitudinal data from 2 siblings to examine the links between siblings’ ERI exploration, resolution, and affirmation. Participants were Mexican-origin mothers, fathers, and 2 siblings (older siblings Mage = 20.65 years; younger siblings Mage = 17.72 years) from 246 families in Arizona who were interviewed on 2 occasions across 2 years. Siblings’ ERI exploration in late adolescence positively predicted young adult ERI, accounting for mothers’ and fathers’ ERIs. For resolution, the sibling (i.e., partner) effect was moderated by sibling gender constellation, such that the sibling effect emerged only for same-sex dyads. For affirmation, the sibling effect emerged for older but not younger siblings. These findings highlight the need to understand siblings’ role in ERI and to expand research on family socialization of ERI beyond parents.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)302-308
Number of pages7
JournalDevelopmental psychology
Volume57
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 21 2020

Keywords

  • Latinx
  • Mexican/Mexican American
  • ethnic-racial identity
  • family
  • siblings

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Demography
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Mexican-origin youth’s ethnic-racial identity development: The role of siblings.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this