"Ethnic-Racial and Religious Identity as Mediators of Relations Between Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Prosocial Behaviors Among Black Young Adults"

Professor Gustavo Carlo (right) published an article in the Journal of Black Psychology analyzing ethnic-racial and religious identity and ethnic-racial socialization and prosocial behaviors among Black young adults.
 
The title of the article is “Ethnic-Racial and Religious Identity as Mediators of Relations Between Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Prosocial Behaviors Among Black Young Adults.”
 
Co-authors are doctoral student Sahitya Maiiya (first author), Assistant Professor Antoinette M. Landor, and doctoral candidate Madison K. Memmott-Elison, all from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

​Carlo’s primary research interest focuses on understanding positive social development and health in culturally diverse children and adolescents. Many of his projects focus on U.S. ethnic/racial groups, including Latino/a youth and families. He has published more than 200 books, chapters, and research papers. He currently serves as a member of the Society for Research in Child Development Governing Council, as associate editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, and as co-editor of the upcoming APA Handbook of Adolescent Development.

​Abstract
 
Scholars have long asserted the importance of studying cultural socialization processes predicting prosocial behaviors, but studies on this topic among Black young adults are rare. The current study examined the mediating roles of ethnic-racial identity and religious identity in associations between ethnic-racial socialization and prosocial behaviors among Black young adults. Participants consisted of 208 Black young adults (Mage = 19.90 years, SDage = 1.62, 73.6% women) from universities across the United States, who reported on their ethnic-racial socialization, ethnic-racial identity, religious identity, and prosocial behaviors. Mediation analyses showed that ethnic-racial identity and religious identity mediated the relation between ethnic-racial socialization and prosocial behavior. Our findings highlight the ways in which cultural socialization and identity processes foster prosocial behaviors among Black young adults. Discussion focuses on a culturally grounded and strengths-based understanding of prosocial development among Black young adults.