Latinx adolescents' academic self-efficacy: Explaining longitudinal links between ethnic-racial identity and educational adjustment.

Objective: This longitudinal study had three aims: (a) to examine whether ethnic-racial identity (ERI; i.e., public regard, private regard, and centrality) was associated with academic self-efficacy and changes in educational adjustment (i.e., educational values and academic performance) among Latinx adolescents over 3 years, (b) to investigate whether academic self-efficacy would operate as a promotive mechanism in links between domains of ERI and changes in educational adjustment, and (c) to explore within-group variability by gender on the relations between domains of ERI, academic self-efficacy, and educational adjustment.
Method: Data came from 329 Latinx families (i.e., middle school students and their parents) living in the Southwest U.S. Parents' data were used from the first wave and adolescents' (M = 13.69, SD = .56; 53% girls) data were used from three study waves. A series of structural equation models were estimated.
Results: All three domains of ERI related to higher levels of academic self-efficacy. Further, public regard was associated with increased levels of educational values, whereas private regard and centrality did not associate with either indicator of educational adjustment. Results provided support for academic self-efficacy serving as a mediator of associations between private regard and centrality and educational adjustment. The results were consistent across gender.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that fostering ERI is promotive of Latinx adolescents' academic self-efficacy. Further, through academic self-efficacy, private regard and centrality support educational adjustment. ERI and academic self-efficacy may be potential targets for programming aimed to address educational disparities among Latinx adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).