Child Development, November/December 2009, Volume 80, Number 6, Pages 16601675

The Effects of Changes in Racial Identity and Self-Esteem on Changes

in African American Adolescents Mental Health
Jelani Mandara

Noni K. Gaylord-Harden

Northwestern University

Loyola University Chicago

Maryse H. Richards

Brian L. Ragsdale

Loyola University Chicago

Walden University

This study assessed the unique effects of racial identity and self-esteem on 259 African American adolescents
depressive and anxiety symptoms as they transitioned from the 7th to 8th grades (ages 1214). Racial identity
and self-esteem were strongly correlated with each other for males but not for females. For both males and
females, an increase in racial identity over the 1 year was associated with a decrease in the prevalence of
depressive symptoms over the same period, even with self-esteem controlled. It was concluded that racial
identity may be as important as self-esteem to the mental health of African American adolescents, and it
explains variance in their mental health not associated with feelings of oneself as an individual.

A critical developmental task of adolescence is the

formation of a cohesive and positive sense of self.
Adolescents higher in self-esteem tend to have better mental health and are more resilient in the face
of adversity compared to those low in self-esteem
(Compas, Hinden, & Gerhardt, 1995; DuBois et al.,
2002). In the early research on African American
identity development, self-esteem was commingled
with racial preferences and racial identity to such a
degree that it was difficult to determine the importance of ones beliefs and feelings about their personal attributes relative to their beliefs and feelings
about their racial group (Whaley, 1993). Counter to
this perspective, several theorists have long argued
that ones self-concept consists of an individual
identity domain and a group identity domain,
which are related but also conceptually distinct
(Cross, 1991; McAdoo, 1985; Spencer, 1982). These
two-factor models of identity suggest that African American youth have the ability to separate or
compartmentalize feelings toward their race from

This research was funded by Grant R01-MH57938 from the

National Institute of Mental Health awarded to Maryse H. Richards. The authors acknowledge the contributions of the project
directors, Cathy Flynn, and Phil Hammack, and the students,
school administrators, teachers, and parents who volunteered
their time to participate in this research.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Jelani Mandara, Program in Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL
60208. Electronic mail may be sent to j-mandara@northwestern.
edu.

feelings about themselves as individuals. Thus,

many theorists questioned the assumption that
ones perceptions and feelings of their racial group,
or racial identity, is a proxy for ones self-esteem
(Cross, 1991; McAdoo, 1985; Spencer, 1982).
Once self-report measures became more standard, two important strands of research emerged.
One strand directly assessed the effects of selfreported self-esteem on African American adolescent and adult mental health, without regard to
racial identity. Another strand attempted to further
disentangle racial identity from self-esteem and
examine their interrelation, as well as the importance of racial identity to African American adolescent and adult mental health in general (see Cross,
1991, for a review). Many important findings about
the identity development of African Americans
emerged from this research (Murray & Mandara,
2001). However, many of the most theoretically and
practically important questions have yet to be
answered. For instance, few studies have examined
the joint influences of racial identity and self-esteem
on African American adolescents mental health
(McMahon & Watts, 2002). Their affects could be
cumulative or one component could explain the
effects of the other. Furthermore, virtually no studies have examined the effect of changes in racial
! 2009, Copyright the Author(s)
Journal Compilation ! 2009, Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2009/8006-0007

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

identity and self-esteem on changes in mental

health. Understanding how racial identity and selfesteem each affects adolescent mental health over
time may have important implications for developmental theory and prevention interventions. The
purpose of this study was to help fill these gaps
and assess the unique effects of racial identity and
self-esteem on African American adolescents mental health as they transitioned between the seventh
and eighth grades.
Self-Esteem Development During Adolescence
Most modern theorists define self-esteem as the
affective and evaluative dimension of ones selfconcept. It essentially refers to ones generalized
appraisal of their positive or negative attributes
across different domains (Harter, 1999). Research
suggests that self-esteem becomes most salient during the transition to adolescence (Greene & Way,
2005). A number of studies have examined the
developmental trajectory of self-esteem during adolescence, but little consensus exists. For instance,
some studies examined mean-level changes in selfesteem at multiple time points and found increases
in self-esteem during adolescence (Hirsch &
Rapkin, 1987; OMalley & Bachman, 1983), whereas
others show decreases (Brown et al., 1998). One
study of self-esteem using growth curve analysis
found that self-esteem increased in preadolescence,
began decreasing in early adolescence, and
increased again during late adolescence (Baldwin &
Hoffman, 2002). Another growth curve analysis of
self-esteem in a multiracial sample provided evidence of a general increase in self-esteem for ethnic
minority adolescents during adolescence (Greene &
Way, 2005). In a study of over 800 students from
various racial backgrounds, researchers used the
experiential sampling method to assess feelings of
self-worth and found that it dramatically reduced
between the 6th and 10th grades, and then began to
slowly increase by the end of high school (Moneta,
Schneider, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2001). Thus, the evidence suggests that self-esteem greatly changes
from early adolescence to later adolescence, but the
trajectory of those changes are still unclear.
Self-Esteem and African American Adolescent
Mental Health
Self-esteem is generally thought to be one of the
most important psychological constructs for adolescent mental health (Mann, Hosman, Schaalma, & de
Vries, 2004). One prevalent theory suggests that self-

1661

esteem benefits adolescent mental health by acting

as a psychological buffer from negative environmental stressors (Compas et al., 1995). This is thought to
occur because high self-esteem makes adolescents
more emotionally resilient and feel as if they have
the capability to overcome obstacles (Mann et al.,
2004). Therefore, having a positive image of oneself
as an individual may be a particularly important
resiliency factor for African American adolescents
given their exposure to environments that often
devalue their worth (Spencer, 1995).
Beginning in the early 1960s with the development of self-report measures, a slew of studies on
African American self-esteem and well-being tested
these assumptions. The accumulated research is
strikingly clear. Self-esteem has been negatively
correlated with cigarette smoking, drug use, and
other risky behaviors among African American
youth (Botvin et al., 1993; Unger, Kipke, Simon,
Montgomery, & Johnson, 1997). Most importantly
for the current study, self-esteem is also negatively
related to suppressed anger (Johnson & Greene,
1991), anxiety symptoms (Matthews & Odom, 1989;
Youngstrom, Weist, & Albus, 2003), and depressive
symptoms (Caldwell, Antonucci, Jackson, Wolford,
& Osofsky, 1997) in African American children and
adolescents. One recent study assessed over 1,500
African American adolescents and found that selfesteem was negatively related to depressive symptoms, even with family socioeconomic status (SES),
grades, and exposure to violence accounted for
(Fitzpatrick, Piko, Wright, & LaGory, 2005). Moreover, self-esteem was a stronger correlate of depressive symptoms than any of the other variables.
Another study of 681 low-achieving African
American adolescents found that self-esteem and
depressive symptoms were related each of 4 years
(Repetto, Caldwell, & Zimmerman, 2004). Thus, as
with other adolescents, self-esteem has a strong and
consistent relation with African American adolescents mental health.
Racial Identity Development During Adolescence
Racial identity is a multidimensional construct
that has been defined in a variety of ways. The
major assessment devices include subscales that
measure: (a) an understanding and acceptance of
ones socially constructed racial label, (b) knowledge of ones racial groups history and cultural
norms, (c) a sense of shared activities, (d) beliefs
about the social position of ones racial group, and
(e) feelings of pride regarding ones racial group
(Phinney, 1992; Sellers, Rowley, Chavous, Shelton,

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Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, and Ragsdale

& Smith, 1997; Vandiver, Cross, Worrell, & FhagenSmith, 2002). The nature of African Americans
racial identity development during adolescence is
even less clear than self-esteem development
because very few studies have assessed changes in
racial identity during this period. However, there
are two related perspectives on African American
racial identity development that guide most
research in the area.
The cognitive development perspective suggests
that racial identity is developed as one becomes
cognitively able to make sense of the multitude of
social messages about race they encounter (Murray
& Mandara, 2001; Wardle, 1992). Children in the
early stages of cognitive development can identify
racial symbols such as skin color and even have
rudimentary understandings that such symbols are
associated with social currency, but they do not
have complex ideas about their own racial identity.
The cognitive perspective further suggests that as
children mature into early adolescence (i.e., ages
1014), they begin to process societal messages
about preferences for certain phenotypic features,
race-based hierarchies in wealth and academic
tracks, and the plethora of racial stereotypes they
will encounter (Murray & Mandara, 2001; Spencer,
1982, 1984). These messages are either challenged
or reinforced by parents racial socialization strategies, peers, teachers, and media. Thus, as Murray
and Mandara (2001) argue, ones cognitive readiness determines when they are capable of developing a more sophisticated notion of racial identity,
but the social context determines the form of racial
identity they will develop.
A second set of theories propose stage or status
models of racial identity development similar to
Eriksons (1968) stages of identity development,
although they have a few different assumptions
(e.g., Cross, 1991; Helms, 2007; Phinney, 1989).
These models suggest that one is in the first stage
when parental and societal beliefs about ones race
and racial identity are accepted without critical
reflection. African American parents can raise their
children to have positive racial pride, but this period is usually described as a time of uncritically
accepting negative stereotypes and beliefs about
African Americans (Phinney, 1989). This initial
stage is usually followed by some period of exploration, where individuals question their earlier,
usually negative views and assumptions about
African Americans. The exploration, or immersion
stage in Crosss (1991) model, is characterized by a
great desire to learn about ones heritage and connect with members of their group. Individuals tend

to focus on the positive stereotypes of their group

while downplaying and often reacting to negative
stereotypes. According to the stage models, the best
outcome is for one to reach an achieved stage in
which they have attained a more secure sense of
oneself as a member of their racial group. This final
stage is characterized by a lack of defensiveness
regarding racial matters and a genuine comfortableness with the racial aspects of their identity (Cross,
1991; Phinney, 1989).
Although little evidence exists regarding the age
at which one typically enters each stage, a few
studies have shed light on this question. For
instance, Phinney & Tarver (1988) found that
almost 30% of 8th-grade students could be classified into the exploration stage. Another study of
10th-grade non-White students found that 55%
could be classified as being in pre-exploration
stages, 23% in exploration, and 22% in an achieved
stage of racial identity (Phinney, 1989). Also consistent with most stage models, Pahl and Way (2006)
followed a small group of African American and
Latino adolescents throughout high school and
found that exploration began to decelerate after the
10th grade. Another recent study used cluster analytic methods and found they could classify African
American adolescents into four groups similar to
those suggested by the stage models (Seaton,
Scottham, & Sellers, 2006). They also found that
over a 1-year period, adolescents changed across
stages at a fairly high rate. Other longitudinal studies did not focus on the stage of identity development but on growth in racialethnic pride during
the adolescent years. One large longitudinal study
found that Canadian ethnic minority adolescents in
the 7th to 10th grades exhibited a linear increase in
their perceptions of ethnic pride over a 15-month
period (Perron, Vondracek, Skorikov, Tremblay, &
Corbie`re, 1998). Similarly, a recent study using
cohorts of middle- and high-school-aged adolescents found a significant linear increase in racial
ethnic group esteem among African Americans and
Latinos over a 3-year period in both cohorts
(French, Seidman, Allen, & Aber, 2006). Therefore,
although the evidence is limited, the few studies in
this area suggest that African Americans racial
identity significantly changes throughout the
adolescent years.
Racial Identity and African American Adolescent
Mental Health
Similar to self-esteem and other aspects of ones
identity, racial identity is considered by most

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

theorists to be of particular importance during the

explorative phases of adolescence (Phinney, 1989).
Many modern theorists suggest that a positive
racial identity helps adolescents cope with the
stresses of discrimination (Caldwell, Zimmerman,
Bernat, Sellers, & Notaro, 2002; Rowley, Sellers,
Chavous, & Smith, 1998; Sellers, Copeland-Linder,
Martin, & Lewis, 2006). For instance, Spencers
(1995) phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) suggests that normative
development for African American adolescents
involves exposure to environments that often devalue their racial group. Chronic exposure to these
high-risk environments can be damaging to African
American adolescents self-esteem and general
mental health. According to PVEST, a positive view
of ones racial group is as an adaptive coping
response to such environments and buffers African
American adolescents from the negative psychosocial consequences of discrimination (Spencer,
Dupree, & Hartmann, 1997).
A related notion is that racial identity helps individuals avoid internalizing negative stereotypes of
ones racial group (McLoyd, Cauce, Takeuchi, &
Wilson, 2000; Spencer, 1995). Media exposure
among American adolescents is quite high (Roberts,
Foehr, Rideout, & Brodie, 1999a), and African
American youth tend to be exposed to media high
in negatively stereotypical portrayals of African
Americans (Ward, 2004). According to the prevailing social identity and reflected appraisal theories,
if society views a group negatively, then members
of the group tend to view themselves negatively
(Tajfel & Turner, 2004). This negative media exposure should then result in more negative stereotypical group perceptions, which is correlated with
mental health problems (Arroyo & Zigler, 1995).
However, a positive racial identity may allow individuals to not be as concerned about the perceptions of others and thus avoid defining their group
in terms of the medias portrayals (McLoyd et al.,
2000). Therefore, modern notions of racial identity
suggest that it facilitates mental health among African American adolescents because it helps protect
them from the difficult social circumstances they
have to navigate.
Nonetheless, unlike the studies of self-esteem,
the relation between African American child and
adolescent racial identity and mental health has
been much less consistent in the empirical research
(Sellers et al., 2006). For instance, in a sample of
over 1,200 African American sixth- to eighth- graders, D. Roberts et al. (1999) and R. E. Roberts et al.
(1999) found that a revised version of Phinneys

1663

(1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM)

was positively correlated with their coping but only
had small correlations with their self-esteem and
depressive symptoms (i.e., .14 and ).07, respectively). Another recent study of 10- to 12-year-old
African Americans also found that the MEIM
assessed at the individual level did not correlate
with depressive symptoms (Simons et al., 2002).
Arroyo and Zigler (1995) found that the endorsement of stereotypical beliefs about African Americans was positively correlated with lower collective
esteem among African American high school students, but it had no relation with their depressive
or anxiety symptoms. A study that used the racial
centrality and private regard subscales of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI; Sellers et al., 1997) also found that they did not
correlate with the depressive or anxiety symptoms
of African American adolescents (Caldwell et al.,
2002). Similarly, Sellers et al. (2006) found that the
public regard subscale of the MIBI did not correlate
with African American adolescents depressive
symptoms, stress, or general well-being.
Counter to these findings, other studies have
found significant relations between adolescent
racial identity and mental health. A study of 10- to
15-year-old African American adolescents found
that the MEIM was negatively related to depressive
symptoms and aggressive behaviors, as well as positively related to self-esteem and coping (McMahon
& Watts, 2002). Similarly, the affirmation and
belonging subscale of the MEIM was negatively
related to depressive symptoms and general psychological distress among African American adolescents around 12 years old in another study (Yasui,
Dorham, & Dishion, 2004). In the same study that
did not find significant effects of public regard,
Sellers et al. (2006) did find that the private regard
subscale of the MIBI was related to depressive
symptoms and general well-being. Studies that
used similar measures also found that they were
positively and strongly related to African American
adolescents self-esteem (Rowley et al., 1998;
Townsend & Belgrave, 2000) and psychological
resiliency (Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003).
One of the main differences between the two sets
of findings is that the studies that found relations
with racial identity tended to use measures of the
degree to which adolescents feel prideful of African
Americans, whereas those that did not find any
significant effects of racial identity tended to use
measures of the degree to which one has cultural
knowledge, ethnic identity exploration, ethnic
specific behaviors, or adolescent thoughts about

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Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, and Ragsdale

what others think of their racial group. Rowley

et al. (1998) also argued that measures of racial
pride or racial esteem were the subscales that best
relate to African Americans mental health. They
theorized that the affective and evaluative aspects
of the racial pride subscales may be tapping into
the affective components of the self-esteem and
depressive symptoms measures. Thus, much of the
inconsistency in findings regarding the relation
between racial identity and African American
adolescent mental health may be explained by the
different measures and subscales used to assess
racial identity (Helms, 2007).
There are also other limitations with prior studies that prevent more definitive statements about
the effects of racial identity on African American
adolescents mental health. One glaring omission is
studies that examine the joint or simultaneous relations of racial identity and self-esteem with mental
health. This is critical to understanding what
unique features of self-esteem and racial identity
account for variance in mental health. If, for
instance, self-esteem accounts for the effects of
racial identity on mental health, then it can be concluded that racial identity does not add anything
socially relevant over and above self-esteem. If
racial identity does account for variance in mental
health beyond that accounted for by self-esteem,
then this will have important implications for our
theoretical understanding of the identity development of African American youth (McMahon &
Watts, 2002).
Only a few studies have examined this question,
and they have had ambiguous results. In the
McMahon and Watts (2002) study, racial identity
and self-esteem were simultaneously entered into a
set of regression models to assess their effects on
adolescent coping, depressive, and anxiety symptoms. They found that racial identity was correlated
with coping, but self-esteem was not. Conversely,
the relation between racial identity and depressive
symptoms was nonsignificant once self-esteem was
accounted for. With both in the model, self-esteem,
but not racial identity, significantly correlated with
anxiety symptoms. Thus, it is still unclear if racial
identity has a unique effect on African American
adolescents mental health.
Probably the major limitation with the research
in this area is that all but a few studies have been
cross-sectional. An important advantage of using
multiple waves is that one is able to assess the
effects of changes in self-esteem and racial identity
on changes in mental health (Duncan & Duncan,
2004). One study examined the 1-year effects of Afri-

can American adolescents racial salience and their

perceptions of what others think about African
Americans on a composite of depressive and anxiety
symptoms (Sellers, Caldwell, Schmeelk-Cone, &
Zimmerman, 2003). No correlations above .13 were
found between the variables at the same time or
between changes in racial identity and changes in
mental health. However, as discussed earlier, these
particular subscales usually do not correlate with
mental health; therefore, no conclusions about the
effects of changes in racial pride or racial esteem can
be derived from that study.
Another issue that has almost never been
addressed in prior studies is the potential moderating effects of gender (Chavous, Rivas-Drake,
Smalls, Griffin, & Cogburn, 2008). This is a critical
concern given that male and female African American adolescents tend to experience the constructs
differently as evidenced by their different means on
many of the variables. Some studies show that
female African American adolescents have higher
levels of racial pride compared to male adolescents
(Martinez & Dukes, 1997). Conversely, female African American adolescents are slightly more at risk
for experiencing depressive (Fitzpatrick et al., 2005;
Repetto et al., 2004) and anxiety (Kingery, Ginsburg, & Alfano, 2007) symptoms than male African
American adolescents. Therefore, it is possible
that the relations between these variables are also
different for male and female adolescents. As
almost none of the prior studies analyzed the
results separately by gender, gender differences
may explain much of the reason why some studies
find significant effects of racial identity and others
do not.
The Current Study
The purpose of this study was to assess the
unique effects of self-esteem and racial identity on
African American early adolescents depressive and
anxiety symptoms while addressing some of the
limitations in prior studies. The participants were
assessed during early adolescence because it is
widely considered to be one of the most critical
periods in the development of ones identity
(Brinthaupt & Lipka, 2002). Although the exact
form of identity development during early adolescence is still unclear, significant changes in racial
identity and self-esteem are expected during this
period (French et al., 2006; Moneta et al., 2001).
Thus, this period when greater cognitive awareness, physical maturation, and novel race-based
social pressures converge is an opportune time to

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

assess the effects of changes in racial identity and

self-esteem on mental health.
Based on Cross (1991) and other theorists
(McAdoo, 1985; Spencer, 1982) two-factor models
of identity described earlier, it was expected that
self-esteem and racial identity would each account
for unique variance in depressive and anxiety
symptoms. These models imply that African
American adolescents have the ability to compartmentalize positive or negative feelings about their
racial group from feelings about themselves as
individuals. As a result, most of the variance in
African American adolescents mental health
accounted for by self-esteem should be separate
from the variance accounted for by racial identity,
and vice versa.
A further purpose was to determine if 1-year
changes in self-esteem and racial identity between
the seventh and eighth grades would correlate with
changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms over
the same period. Based on the models of racial
identity development and the consistent self-esteem
literature described earlier, it was expected that
racial identity and self-esteem would correlate with
each other and depressive and anxiety symptoms
at both time points. We also expected increases in
racial identity and or self-esteem to correlate with
reductions in symptoms. Similar to Rowley et al.
(1998), we argued that the inconsistent findings
regarding the relation between racial identity and
mental health are due in large part to the different
dimensions of racial identity assessed in prior
studies. The racial pride or racial esteem component of racial identity was the most consistent
correlate of African American adolescent mental
health in prior studies. Thus, this study included
reliable measures of racial pride and self-esteem.
The potential moderating effects of gender were
also assessed.

Method
Participants
Participants included 100 male (39%) and 159
female (61%) sixth-grade African American students from six public schools in Chicago. Of the
519 asked to participate, 301 (58%) agreed to participate in the first wave. Of the 301 participants in
the sixth grade, 259 of the youth were able to be
located in either the seventh or eighth grades. The
nonretained youth were similar to the retained
youth in terms of annual household income
(p = .92), depressive symptoms (p = .43), anxiety

1665

symptoms (p = .46), and self-esteem (p = .96) during the sixth grade. Because racial identity was not
assessed in the sixth grade, this study only
included data from the seventh- and eighth-grade
waves. The students had a mean age of 12.55
(SD = 0.69) in the seventh grade. The youth were
primarily from low-income households with a median family income between $10,000 and $20,000.
Most parents (83%) had at least a high school
degree, with 10% reporting a college or graduate or
professional degree.
Procedure
Letters and a short demographics survey were
sent home asking parents for their consent to allow
their early adolescent to participate in a multiyear
study. Parents and students were informed that
students would receive prizes such as gift certificates, sports equipment, and games at the end of
each data collection. Each student returned to their
school the completed demographics survey and
signed consent form in a sealed envelope. Researchers went to each school everyday for 1 week to
administer surveys in small groups. All the participating students in each school were assessed by the
end of the week. One year later, when participants
were in the eighth grade, they were invited to again
participate in the study and the same procedure
was repeated.
Measures
Depressive symptoms. Participants completed the
27-item Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI;
Kovacs, 1985), a self-report instrument on which
youth rated their level of depressive symptoms for
the 2 weeks prior to administration on a scale from
1 (I am sad once in a while) to 3 (I am sad all the time).
The widely used CDI was chosen because of its
ease of use and excellent psychometric properties
in multiracial samples of early adolescents (Kovacs,
1985). The seventh- and eighth-grade Cronbachs
alphas for the current sample were .84 and .80,
respectively.
Anxiety symptoms. The trait subscale of the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC;
Spielberger, Edwards, Montuori, & Lushene, 1973)
was used to assess anxiety symptoms. The STAIC
is a 20-item measure on which youth rate the frequency of anxiety symptoms on a scale from 1
(hardly ever) to 3 (often). Example items include, I
worry about school and I get a funny feeling
in my stomach. The instrument was used in the

1666

Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, and Ragsdale

current study because it was specifically designed

for late elementary and middle school and has been
shown to have very good psychometric properties
with African American children (Papay & Hedl,
1978). The scale yielded a Cronbachs alpha of .90
each year of the current study.
Racial identity. A modified version of the fiveitem affirmation and belonging subscale of the
MEIM (Phinney, 1992) was used to assess racial
ethnic identity. This subscale was chosen because it
represents the affective and prideful component of
racial identity and because it consistently relates to
African American adolescents self-esteem and
mental health in most prior studies. To more specifically assess racial pride or esteem, the MEIM was
modified by replacing phrases such as, my ethnic
group with phrases such as Black people. The
items were: (a) I have a lot of pride in Black people; (b) I have a strong sense of belonging to
Black people; (c) I feel a strong attachment
towards Black people; (d) I am happy to be a
member of the Black group; and (e) I feel good
about my cultural or ethnic background. Items
were rated using a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly disagree).
Cronbachs alphas in the seventh and eighth grades
were .80 and .73, respectively.
Self-esteem. To assess self-esteem, adolescents
carried watches for 1 week that were programmed
to signal at random times. After each signal, the
youth completed a brief self-report form in a booklet they carried each day. The youth in this study

responded to a median number of 42 signals,

yielding an 82% compliance rate. Respondents were
prompted with the question, How were you feeling when you were signaled? and rated feelings
about how important, tough, respected, and prideful they felt on a 4-point scale ranging from 1 (not
at all) to 4 (very much). This experiential sampling
method was used to assess self-esteem because
prior research suggests that it is more reliable and
more sensitive to changes between the 6th and 12th
grades compared to dispositional measures (Moneta et al., 2001). The scale had a very strong reliability in the 7th (a = .94) and 8th grades (a = .93).
Analysis Plan
To test the main hypotheses of the study, latent
variable growth models were assessed with structural equation modeling (SEM) using Amos 5.0
with maximum likelihood estimation (see Figure 1).
These models assessed the effects of the racial
identity and self-esteem intercepts and slopes (i.e.,
linear changes between the seventh and eighth
grades) on linear changes in mental health over the
same period. Although the purpose was not to test
a theoretical model, but get better estimates of
effects than could be provided by ordinary least
squares (OLS) regression, model fit was assessed
with the goodness-of-fit v2, the comparative fit
index (CFI), and the root-mean-square error of
approximation (RMSEA). Established criteria suggest that a nonsignificant v2, an RMSEA < .06, and

Figure 1. Latent variable growth model illustrating the paths to test the effects of baseline and changes in racial identity and selfesteem on changes in mental health.

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

a CFI of 0.95 or better indicates a very good fit of

the model to the data (Hu & Bentler, 1999).
The measurement models for racial identity, selfesteem, and depressive symptoms at each wave
were tested with exploratory and then confirmatory
factor analyses. Each was found to be unidimensional and had high internal consistencies (see the
Method section). The composites of each factor
were used as single indicators of their latent variable in the SEM analyses at each wave. To account
for measurement error, the residuals were fixed to
their error variances times their variances (Loehlin,
1998).
To assess the potential moderating effects of gender, the multiple-group analysis facility in Amos
5.0 was used to fit the data simultaneously to both
genders. This analysis helped answer two questions. First, the multiple-group analysis assessed if
the path diagram fit the data equally well for both
males and females, and if so, if the regression
weights were different between the genders. The
multiple-group analysis in Amos 5.0 proceeds by
automatically generating several nested models.
Each lower level model adds additional constraints
and can be tested for differences from the previous
models (Arbuckle, 2003). For our purpose, only the
completely unconstrained model and the model
that constrained the regression weights to be equal
(i.e., the structural weights model) were important.
A test of the unconstrained or first level model
assesses the fit of the data to both groups. If the
unconstrained model fits the data well, the test of
the structural weights model gives an estimate of
the degree to which the regression weights are sim-

1667

ilar in both groups. The facility also computes critical ratio tests for each parameter in both samples
(Arbuckle, 2003).
Before any formal analyses, missing data were
analyzed. To be included in the study, participants
had to have data at one of the two time points for
each variable. This resulted in a maximum sample
of 259 adolescents. The percentages missing for
each variable are presented in Table 1. Overall,
16.9% and 16.7% of data points were missing for
males and females, respectively. The pattern of
missing was very similar for males and females as
well. Littles MCAR test showed that the data were
missing completely at random, v2(102) = 126.45,
p = .05. We therefore imputed missing data with
the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. This
method replaces missing values with iterative maximum likelihood estimations based on the available
data. Schafer (1997) discusses more details of the
EM algorithm.

Results
Descriptive Statistics
The means, standard deviations, and zero-order
correlations by gender are presented in Table 1.
Contrary to our predictions, females racial identity
was not related to their self-esteem or anxiety symptoms. By modern effect size standards (Hemphill,
2003), racial identity had a small relation with girls
depressive symptoms in the seventh grade and a
moderate effect on depressive symptoms in the

Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Zero-Order Correlations Among Study Variables in the Seventh and Eighth Grades
Variables (grade)
1. Racial identity (7)
2. Self-esteem (7)
3. Depression (7)
4. Anxiety (7)
5. Racial identity (8)
6. Self-esteem (8)
7. Depression (8)
8. Anxiety (8)
M
SD
Percent missing

.28**
).35**
.06
.56**
.27**
).32**
.13
3.30
0.67
21

.04

).16*
).24**

).09
).18*
.50**

.34**
.04
).19*
).08

).03
.81**
).21**
).19*
.03

.03
).28**
.65**
.31**
).32**
).17*

.04
).23*
.44**
.59**
).15
).18*
.52**

).17
.04
.39**
.84**
).29**
).18
3.30
0.65
20

.54**
).44**
).23*
.63**
.38*
1.18
1.24
17

).21*
.03
.40**
.47**
10.99
7.79
23

.45**
).55**
).20*
3.44
0.52
6

).28**
).22*
3.29
0.68
17

.42***
1.08
1.02
10

10.33
7.59
18

Note. Females correlations are above the diagonal (n = 159) and males correlations are below (n = 100). Values in parentheses
represent seventh- and eighth-grade assessments. Means, standard deviations, and percent missing are for the total sample.
*p < .05. **p < .01.

1668

Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, and Ragsdale

eighth grade. Self-esteem in the seventh and eighth

grades was negatively related to depressive and
anxiety symptoms in both years for girls. The results
were somewhat different for boys. The correlation
between racial identity in the seventh and eighth
grades was slightly larger for boys than it was for
girls. However, racial identity was a very strong correlate of boys self-esteem and depressive symptoms
in both years. Racial identity in the eighth grade had
a small effect on anxiety symptoms in the expected
direction, but they did not correlate in the seventh
grade. Self-esteem also had small negative relations
with boys depressive and anxiety symptoms in
eighth grade, but not in the seventh grade.
Independent samples t tests were conducted to
assess gender differences in mean levels on each of
the variables in the study. No significant differences were found between males and females.
Paired samples t tests were also computed to assess
mean differences on the identity and mental health
variables between the seventh and eighth grades.
Those results showed that racial identity significantly increased between the seventh and eighth
grades, t(258) = 3.43 p = .001. No other changes
were found.
Effects of Changes in Identity on Changes in Depressive
Symptoms
The first set of analyses assessed the effects
of racial identity and self-esteem on depressive
symptoms as participants transitioned from the
seventh to the eighth grade. The results of the mul-

tiple-group analysis showed that the unconstrained

model fit the data adequately, v2(2) = 3.60, p = .17,
CFI = 1.0, RMSEA = .06. This indicates that the
overall path model fit well for both genders. However, when constraining the regression weights to
be equal, there was a significant decrease in model
fit, Dv2(13) = 27.35, p = .01, which indicates that the
overall pattern of regression weights were significantly different between girls and boys (see
Figures 2 and 3). An examination of the critical
ratios for the differences between the regression
weights showed that the relation between racial
identity and self-esteem was significantly larger for
boys than for girls (z = 1.99, p < .05). Furthermore,
the path from the self-esteem intercept to the racial
identity slope was significantly larger for boys
(z = 2.24, p < .05). The depressive symptoms intercept also had a significantly larger negative effect
on the depressive symptoms slope for boys compared to girls (z = 3.04, p < .01). There were no
other significant differences between males and
females for the same path.
The overall pattern of results generally supported
the main hypotheses. The higher the seventh-grade
racial identity (e.g., the intercept), the lower the seventh-grade depressive symptoms for both males
and females, even after seventh-grade self-esteem
was accounted for. The reverse was only true for
females. Initial self-esteem did not correlate with
depressive symptoms for boys. Seventh-grade racial
identity also had a strong negative effect on the
depressive symptoms slope for boys. The higher
their racial identity in the seventh grade, the less

Figure 2. Latent variable growth model illustrating the effects of baseline and changes in racial identity and self-esteem on changes in
depressive symptoms for males, v2(1) = 3.25, p = .07, comparative fit index = 1.0, root mean square error of approximation = .15.
**p < .01.

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

1669

Figure 3. Latent variable growth model illustrating the effects of baseline and changes in racial identity and self-esteem on changes in
depressive symptoms for females, v2(1) = 0.35, p = .56, comparative fit index = 1.0, root mean square error of approximation = .00.
*p < .05. **p < .01.

likely they were to increase in depression between

the seventh and eighth grades. Self-esteem in the
seventh grade did not predict changes in depressive
symptoms for boys or girls.
The results also showed that an increase in racial
identity from the seventh to the eighth grade was
associated with a large decrease in depressive
symptoms over the same period once baseline factors and increases in self-esteem were accounted
for. This was consistent for both males and females.
Conversely, an increase in self-esteem was associated with a significant increase in depressive symptoms only for girls.
Effects of Changes in Identity on Changes in Anxiety
Symptoms
The same analyses were conducted for anxiety
symptoms. As with the depressive symptoms, the
results of the multigroup analyses showed that the
model fit equally well for males and females,
v2(2) = 3.41, p = .18, CFI = 1.0, RMSEA = .05. Also
like the depressive symptoms data, when constraining the regression weights to be equal, there was a
significant decrease in model fit, Dv2(13) = 25.78,
p = .02 (see Figures 4 and 5). The critical ratios for
the differences between the regression weights
were also similar. The relations between racial identity and self-esteem (z = 1.99, p < .05), between the
intercept of self-esteem and the racial identity slope
(z = 2.25, p < .05), between the anxiety symptoms
intercept and slope (z = 2.12, p < .05), and between
the anxiety symptoms intercept and racial identity

slope (z = 2.16, p < .05) were significantly stronger

for boys.
However, the overall pattern of results was
somewhat different for anxiety symptoms compared to depressive symptoms. The seventh-grade
racial identity and self-esteem did not predict the
anxiety intercept or slope. This held up for males
and females. Partially in support of our prediction,
the results showed that an increase in racial identity between the seventh and eighth grades was
associated with a significant decrease in anxiety
symptoms over the same period. This effect was
significant for females only, but the coefficient was
the same size for the males. Counter to our expectations, changes in self-esteem did not relate to
changes in anxiety symptoms.

Discussion
Prior research shows that higher levels of selfesteem and the racial esteem or pride component of
racial identity are related to lower levels of mental
health problems among African American adolescents. This study was designed to build on this
prior research and address some voids in the literature by assessing the unique effects of racial
identity and self-esteem on African American
adolescents depressive and anxiety symptoms as
they transitioned between the seventh and eighth
grades. The results tended to support the general
theme of prior research, but several distinctive findings also emerged.

1670

Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, and Ragsdale

Figure 4. Latent variable growth model illustrating the effects of baseline and changes in racial identity and self-esteem on changes in
anxiety symptoms for males, v2(1) = 3.04, p = .17, comparative fit index = .99, root mean square error of approximation = .14.
**p < .01.

Figure 5. Latent variable growth model illustrating the effects of baseline and changes in racial identity and self-esteem on changes in
anxiety symptoms for females, v2(2) = 3.60, p = .17, comparative fit index = 1.0, root mean square error of approximation = .06.
*p < .05. **p < .01.

We found some support for the main hypothesis

that both racial identity and self-esteem would
have unique effects on mental health, but this
depended on the gender of the adolescent and
whether the outcome was depressive or anxiety
symptoms. The higher males racial identity in the
seventh grade, the lower their depressive symptoms in the seventh or eighth grades tended to
be. Moreover, the higher males racial identity in
the seventh grade, the less likely it was that they
experienced an increase in depressive symptoms
over the 1 year. These findings persisted after

accounting for self-esteem. The results for females

were in the same general direction, but they were
not as strong. Self-esteem did not have the same
strong unique effect on depressive symptoms as
did racial identity. Seventh grade self-esteem did
correlate with depressive symptoms in the seventh
grade for girls, even with racial identity accounted
for, but this was not found for boys. For boys, racial
identity accounted for all of the self-esteem effect
on depressive symptoms.
A related finding was that 1-year increases in
adolescents racial identity were associated with

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

decreases in the prevalence of depressive symptoms over the same period. Those adolescents who
increased their prideful feelings of African Americans as they transitioned from the seventh to the
eighth grades also experienced a relatively large
decrease in depressive symptoms over the same
period. This finding held up even with baseline
self-esteem and changes in self-esteem accounted
for. This was the same pattern of results for the
males and females. Given the cross-sectional and
the change model findings, it seems clear that the
pride young African American adolescents have in
their racial group is an important correlate of their
current depressive symptoms and changes in
depressive symptoms beyond their general feelings
of personal esteem. The better they feel about their
racial group, the less depressive symptoms they
seem to experience.
Unlike the results with depressive symptoms,
racial identity did not have the same clear effects
on anxiety symptoms. Racial identity in the seventh
or eighth grades did not correlate with anxiety
symptoms in the same year. This is consistent with
most previous studies that have found that racial
identity does not correlate with anxiety symptoms
(e.g., Arroyo & Zigler, 1995; Caldwell et al., 2002).
McMahon and Watts (2002) also found that racial
identity did not correlate with anxiety symptoms,
but it did with depressive symptoms. However, we
did find that increases in racial identity were correlated with reductions in anxiety symptoms for girls.
Although the relation was not as strong as it was
for depressive symptoms, the effect was significant
and important. The effect size was the same for
boys, but it was not significant for them. Therefore,
changes in racial identity may have a unique effect
on changes in anxiety symptoms, but the overall
relation between racial identity and anxiety symptoms is not very strong.
One plausible reason for the differences between
the depressive and anxiety symptoms findings is
that racial identity, self-esteem, and depressive
symptoms share an affective component. For
instance, each measure assesses the degree to which
one feels positive about themselves, their racial
group, or their emotional experiences. This affective
component is less prevalent among anxiety symptoms, which tend to be more focused on physical
symptoms and fears (Spielberger et al., 1973). This
may explain why racial identity did not account for
as much variance in anxiety symptoms as it did
with depressive symptoms. Future studies may
find that other components of racial identity
account for variance in anxiety symptoms not

1671

accounted for by affective components of racial

identity.
Overall, the findings from this study support the
notion that developing positive feelings about ones
racial group is related to reductions in mental
health problems. As some African American adolescents develop more prideful feelings about their
racial group, they simultaneously experience fewer
symptoms of some mental health problems. As
described earlier, theorists suggest that racial identity is associated with mental health because it may
help African American adolescents avoid internalizing negative stereotypes (McLoyd et al., 2000;
Spencer, 1995), and it may buffer them from the
effects of racial discrimination (Caldwell et al.,
2002; Cross, Parham, & Helms, 1998). In support of
these theories, a few recent studies have found that
various aspects of racial identity moderate the
effects of perceived racial discrimination on African
American youths mental health (Sellers et al., 2006;
Wong et al., 2003). Thus, a positive racial identity
may allow individuals to not feel as if discriminatory practices are a result of shortcomings of their
group. There may be other mediators of racial identity as well. This will be an important topic for
future studies.
Important gender differences were also found in
this study. Although males and females did not
have mean differences on any of the variables, the
relation between racial identity and self-esteem
were different. Racial identity and self-esteem had
moderate to large positive correlations with each
other for the boys in both the seventh and eighth
grades. They did not correlate at all for the girls in
either year. One possible explanation is that race
during this age may be more salient for African
American males than it is for females, and this difference explains the stronger racial identity and
self-esteem relation among boys. For instance,
some studies suggest that self-esteem and racial
identity are only correlated when race is a salient
aspect of ones identity (Phinney, 1991; Rowley
et al., 1998). Moreover, other studies imply that
race may be more salient for African American adolescent boys compared to girls. For instance, a few
studies found that African American boys are more
likely than girls to receive racial socialization messages concerned with preparing them for racial discrimination (Bowman & Howard, 1985; Thomas &
Speight, 1999). Other studies found that African
American adolescent males perceive more discrimination from peers and teachers than African
American girls (Chavous et al., 2008). Thus, if these
different racial socialization and discrimination

1672

Mandara, Gaylord-Harden, Richards, and Ragsdale

experiences made race more salient for African

American males, it could explain why racial identity and self-esteem only correlated for boys during
this age.
Quite surprisingly, increases in self-esteem were
correlated with increases in depressive symptoms
for girls once racial identity was accounted for. This
does not imply that self-esteem is a negative construct for this population, because self-esteem was
negatively correlated with depressive symptoms at
each time point for males and females. However,
there is some evidence that at least a few African
American girls experience both higher than average
self-esteem and depressive symptoms in the general population. For instance, in the general population, female African American adolescents tend to
have high levels of self-esteem compared to other
female adolescents (Twenge & Crocker, 2002), but
they are equal to or even slightly more likely to
experience depressive symptoms than other
females during middle to later adolescence (Franko
et al., 2005). Thus, there is some evidence that the
two are positively related for many African American girls. This could be due to the amount of
responsibilities expected of African American adolescent females. They tend to have a great burden
of household chores, caring for younger siblings,
and other adult responsibilities compared to
African American boys and other adolescents
(Burton, 2007; Dodson & Dickert, 2004). These
responsibilities may result in the girls feeling more
confident in their abilities but also more pressured
and stressed from taking on adult responsibilities
at a young age (Burton, 2007; Dodson & Dickert,
2004). If this is the case, then it could result in a situation in which at least some girls simultaneously
increase in self-esteem and depressive symptoms.
Future studies should examine this possibility.
Limitations of this study should be noted. As
with the majority of studies on this topic, the adolescents in this study were primarily from lower SES
inner-city backgrounds. Adolescents in this situation may have different views of racial identity and
self-esteem compared to African American adolescents from middle-class backgrounds and those
living in less threatening environments. For
instance, issues of race at school may be less salient
for adolescents in this study as almost all of their
classmates were African American, whereas those
reared in the suburbs are likely exposed to more
racially heterogeneous environments. Future
research should begin to compare these results to
different subpopulations of African American
youth.

The two waves of data in this study have many

advantages over cross-sectional studies, but this
design still does not allow one to make the claim
that the changes in identity caused changes in
symptomology. Moreover, only having two time
points limits our ability to describe nonlinear
growth curve models (Duncan & Duncan, 2004). In
lieu of randomized experiments, finding that different types of identity growth curves predict similar
types of growth curves in mental health would be
the strongest evidence for causation. Thus, studies
that measure the variables from an earlier period
and follow the participants for a longer period of
time have the potential to significantly increase our
understanding of these important developmental
factors.
In spite of these limitations, there are some
important implications of this study. It has been
established that self-esteem is a critical feature of
optimal adolescent development and mental health.
As suggested by the two-factor models of identity
(Cross, 1991), this study implies that racial identity
correlates with mental health as strongly as selfesteem and accounts for variance in African American adolescents mental health not associated with
self-esteem. Although they are correlated in adolescent males, it does not seem as if racial identity and
self-esteem are proxies for each other. Thus, these
findings underscore the importance of including
both personal and group-level components of identity in research on adolescent development.
We believe that the results of the change models
in this study are some of the strongest evidence to
date of the correlation between racial identity and
mental health for African American adolescents.
Although the causality of the relations are still
questionable, and thus it is not clear exactly how
protective racial identity actually is, it is evident
from this study and the extant literature that racial
identity is not a risk factor for mental health problems. Therefore, randomized prevention interventions that incorporate sound models of racial
identity development should be implemented
(McMahon & Watts, 2002; Wills et al., 2007). Such
experiments will help answer questions about the
causal effects of racial identity and may help reduce
the prevalence of symptomology in this population.
Based on the research findings in this area, the prevention interventions should primarily focus on the
development of pride and esteem in ones heritage.
Those who focus on teaching African American
adolescents about racism, public regard for others
beliefs, and or just performing ethnic specific
behaviors are likely not going to be efficacious.

Racial Identity and Self-Esteem

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